Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Las montañas

Two weeks ago (I know it's been too long) I spent time in the paramo, at Chimborazo, and in the cloud forest. The paramo is a grassland that exists at a certain elevation, and only a few plants and animals are able to thrive there. One of those animals is the vicuna, a relative of the alpaca, PICTURED HERE:

The paramo has really harsh conditions, spanning from desert-like rocky areas to lower elevations with lots of grasses, shrubs, and hummingbirds. The weather changes really rapidly there; it can go from summer to winter in just a few hours. While we were hiking, it hailed on us and then an hour later became sunny and warm. And the views from up there were amazing. 
Valerian, which can be used as a relaxant.



Paramo
Hiking this high was pretty difficult. After just a few steps, my heart was beating really fast and I felt like I had just been running. It was really rewarding to get to our top spot, which was called the ear of Chimborazo, a cave where indigenous people went to pray to the mountain. When we reached the cave, our guide said a prayer in Quechua to help us have a safe and happy journey in Ecuador. It was really beautiful.
Our professor, Esteban, in the ear of Chimborazo.
Next stop was the cloud forest. This might have been my favorite field trip so far. Unfortunately I was not able to take any pictures there, so I will paint a picture with my words. The cloud forest is typically how you imagine a jungle, with plants living literally everywhere, to the point that epiphytes, or plants that grow on trees branches, cover up to 135% of branches there. When we went, it was incredibly muddy and we sank into the mud with almost every step, making the hike pretty difficult, which some people didn't like. However, I thought it was awesome and I stayed behind our guide, who wielded a machete through the forest to clear the way for us. After we finally made it to our halfway point, we swam in an ice-cold waterfall, which felt way too cold but really great at the same time. The cloud forest got its name from its higher elevation unlike that of a tropical rainforest like Tiputini; clouds roll through the forest, water condenses on the trees and flows downward, making it super wet and plant-y. I really loved all of the biodiversity and abundance of plants there, and I thought even though it was hard to hike through, it was incredibly beautiful.
On our way to the cloud forest, we saw Banos, a really cool town boasting a huge active volcano, Tungurahua. The crazy thing is, two weeks after we left Banos and the cloud forest, Tungurahua had a lot of activity and a huge ash storm resulted. Here's a picture I took of the volcano: 
This is terrible for the residents of Banos because it can contaminate water, kill animals, and be an all-around nuisance for people to clean up and such. But you have to admit, it's still really awesome. Ecuador is just so awesome. 

P.S. I am in Galapagos now! I will post soon about that, I just found a reliable internet connection to use!