Where/when does it all begin? On a Saturday morning; always bright and early on a Saturday. Almost as if there are no other traveling options available other than "Bright", "Early", and "Saturday Morning". If a trip didn't fulfill at least two of the aforementioned criteria, then we probably weren't part of it. Clearly any trip planners involved had not and refused to take into account the fact that college students enjoy sleeping late on the weekends. But I digress: on this bright and sunny morning we were assembled outside of CEDEI waiting to embark upon the small bus. In numbers we counted: 9 students, 1 adviser, and 1 coordinator. Our nine students were myself, Isaac, Sarah, Autumn, Ross, Steve, Mary, Kaelyn, and Zoe from Spring Semester.
We had backpacks full of things for just about any and all eventualities. I had a boxed lunch ( I came to realize in Ecuador that a boxed lunch is just about never "boxed"), Under Armour, I wore wool socks, umbrella on the side of my pack of course, and a few odds and ends like gloves. I was also wearing my weather resistant jacket and sunglasses. At our first stop of the day, our requisite stop at the last gas station on the way out of town I bough a large package of Nestle's Amor chocolate wafers to have for lunch and share with everyone. During our Saraguro trip or possibly before I got into the habit of buying these entirely addictive snacks to share with everyone. Its always good to share the love.
On the drive to Cajas our guide had the bus driver stop multiple times to point out significant things in nature like the green healthy trees on the opposing hill were Eucalyptus trees. They surrounded a small water fall. Our guide informed us that Eucalyptus trees were actually an invasive species in Ecuador that the Ecuadorians were having a difficult time removing. Perhaps Koala bears could be brought in to tame the spread of the medicinal trees, but probably not as my Plant Bio class from two years ago taught me that when one invasive species is brought in to combat a second invasive species only more problems arise.
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| The Llamas of the parking lot |
We parked our small bus in a parking lot next to a visitor's center. It was a fairly ordinary parking lot except that it had five llamas hanging out nearby. We waved hello to the llamas then crossed the street to do a quick warm-up hike. While it was quick, but it was a little more strenuous than a warm-up. I'll explain. It was a climb straight up about 100-150 wooden stairs. By itself, that's not so bad, but we were at about 9000 ft of elevation so when we got to the top we couldn't breathe very well. Aside from the challenge of respirating, the view was amazing. Cajas is one of the most strange, awesome and indescribable places I've ever been. Take one part English boggy marshes, add sprawling hills and valleys, sprinkle in a dash of still rivers and lakes, shake well, but don't forget a garnish of spongy ground. That was what we gazed at while we stood atop the first vista. Again I felt like I was in the valley of the giants.
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| The Wooden Stairs of the Warm-up hike |
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| A tasted of Cajas |
After the warm-up hike we started on the real one, first we had to don knee-high rubber wading boots. I had never realized how comfortable rubber boots could be. I tucked my hiking pants in and everything felt just right. We set off. The spongy ground squelched at times and it easily let a boot sink in an inch or two with each step, only to rise after the boot had gone. It was essentially like hiking through memory foam. It was so much fun. Regular hiking shoes could probably handle the spongy terrain. That leads to the question: okay, so why the waders? That's where the standing water and rivers I mentioned earlier come in. Most people can't levitate and most people aren't inclined to get their legs soaked for the sake of a good hike. So don the rubber boots and cross all the rivers!
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| Us taking a ridiculous picture, me and Steve are trying to do a freeze frame punch á la Rocky |
The first stream crossing was odd. We stepped into the water without any feeling of wetness, only feeling fluid motion around our feet. It was surreal and fantastically different. We made good progress steadily climbing up and down small hills. There wasn't much vegetation aside from super tiny flowers that coiled up if you covered them from the sun, and then there were agave plants here and there with their long stalks flowing from the base straight up to the sky. Other than that it was mainly boulders. I saw a good sized boulder off to our right about 200 yards from the path. I jokingly asked our guide, Gustavo, if we could go climb it. He looked and said sure, why not? He said they'd wait for us there on the path. I was amazed, I hadn't actually expected my wish to be granted.
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| Steve atop the boulder being pensive |
Ross, Steve, Sarah and I headed over for the mossy rock. We corssed a small stream in our waders. One at a time we climbed the great big rock. As each person was at the top we took pictures. As each person descended we jumped a few feet before the bottom since the spongy ground could act as cushioning. Cheerfully we started to march back to the group. Elatedly I proclaimed, "I'll never get tired of crossing these little streams in these boots!" We laughed and I looked for the perfect place to enter the stream. I took a step only to instantaneously realize that I had picked the perfect wrong spot where the little stream became a pond. My boot never hit bottom. My other leg disobeyed me and followed its rubber clad brother. In a flash I was up to just past my waist in cold water. I sprang from the water like a man electrified. I was in a state of shcok. I thought as I shivered, "These hiking pants are nice but they sure ain't water proof." I stumbled back to the group midst shouts asking if I was okay. I must have nodded. My t-shirt was drenched, same with my pants and socks. Someone snapped into action, asking if I had a change of pants. I said, "No" Luckily Autumn had her baggy blue and purple jungle pants in her pack which she lent to me. Ike had an extra pair of socks, one white and one black. I changed right there on a small rock to put the dry socks on. They shook my boots out thoroughly, fortunately rubber doesn't retain water. I had my under-armour shirt and hoody and gloves in my knapsack, I put those and my scarf on and I felt a bit warmer. We continued on. Steve said to me, "But you should have seen your face! It was priceless!" I'm sure that it was.
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| Gustavo in red leading the group |
The rest of the hike was less eventful. We passed through a small forest full of thin trees that were smooth. They were slick and shiny like someone had taken varnish to them. It was magical. There was asmall cave after the forest. I went a little ways in with my friends until my leg fell into a crevice, scraping my knee. With that I wandered back to the other half of the group who were eating their boxed lunches on top of a cliff. I joined them and started in on one of my enormous hamburgers. It was fantastic as always. I passed my bag of chocolate wafers around to everyone. It was an altogether pleasant lunch.
Though we were tired after lunch we still had to get back to the bus. that meant another two hours of windy hiking. They were an enjoyable two hours, but I found myself wary of any sort of standing water for the rest of that particular trip. Eventually we made it back to the bus. It had begun to rain. We were exhausted so it felt great. We had to wait to depart since Ike, Ross and Sarah were camping over night with Gustavo. We unloaded the equipment for them then off for Cuenca. I have rarely been so deliriously tired. I stumbled home, took a hot showere then went in and out of deep sleep for the next three hours. I ended waking at about 8pm to make plans to meet Steve and the Spring Semester girls for the night. That was a good time, but another story.
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