Since returning to the mainland...

I spent a couple of nights in Quito at the lovely guest house run by Darrel and Mandy Klassen (a couple with roots in my hometown, who also happen to be relatives...2nd cousins I think we figured out). I was so happy to return to the mountain climate where it cools off at night. In my four weeks on the Galapagos I learned how much I dislike heat like that. Anyway, Darrel and Mandy have been wonderful. There was another group at the guest house going to Banos, and they were kind enough to offer me a ride.

So I headed down to Banos, a town with a really cool vibe. It reminded me a lot of Canmore...surrounded by mountains, and a cool cafe on every corner. It´s also at the base of an active volcano (last eruption in 2005), and was evacuated a few months ago because the volcano started spewing smoke. I really didn´t want another evacuation story (the tsunami was enough), and fortunately I survived my stay in Banos without a volcanic eruption. It was a really good place to relax, with lots of time for thinking and reflecting. No major inspiration to report, but it´s always good to spend some time sitting still and being quiet - especially in the season of lent. The (relatively) small cathedral in the middle of town was a good place for that. I also helped some paramedics practice their english. They needed english speakers to be mock accident victims so they could practice different scenarios in english to be able to better serve the many tourists that visit the area.

I met up with a friend from the bear project and a few of her friends and we headed down to Puyo, a town right on the edge of the jungle. There we visited a monkey reserve that houses 54 monkeys, all sick, injured, or were kept as pets and aren´t able to live in the wild. These monkeys were crazy and would literally climb all over you and jump on your head and unzip your bag to steal your stuff if you weren´t careful! A pretty cool experience!

Next I moved on to Riobamba for a short visit. I left today on a bike tour. We drove up to the base of Volcan Chimborazo - the highest in Ecuador (6310m), and because of the equatorial bulge, the furthest point from the centre of the earth. We walked from 4800m up to the refuge at 5000m; a breath taking hike - not so much for the view (it was really cloudy), but because it´s really hard to breathe up there! We were able to catch a few glimpses of the snow capped peak between the clouds and it really was amazing. Later, we biked 45km, descending almost 2000m, down a beautiful road winding alongside the river through canyons and past villages. Absolutely gorgeous!

On this tour I realized two things:

1. It was a great tragedy that my mountain bike spent last summer in the garage. We need to spend some quality time together this year...(not just on my birthday, Kim).

2. I´m drawn to the mountains by some force beyond my control. The refuge was extremely basic and it was cold and hard to breathe, but I wished so much that I was spending the night in preparation for a summit attempt. I will always love the prairies (in that way that only someone who grew up there can), but the mountains are calling!

The tour ended in Ambato where I took a bus further north to Latacunga. I´ll spend the night here, do a day trip to the Quilotoa crater lake tomorrow, then head back to Quito. On Monday, I´m going to spend a week on a farm north east of Quito (www.fbu.com.ec).

Then it won´t be long till I´m back in Manitoba. I will miss many things here, but there is a lot to look forward to at home: clean water coming out of the tap, cereal with milk, catching up with family and friends, ROCK CLIMBING!, etc, etc.

Hope all is well! See some of you soon!