Cayambe Refugio Videos
/Videos of the trip up to the refugio on most spectacular day so far!
The grand finale!
Videos for the Return Home
Cayambe Oct 2016
/Of all the many beautiful, and magical days, of great weather in the Quito Valley, this day in the mountain topped them all! No wind, mostly clearly blue skies and Volcano Cayambe remain available for viewing all day long. In some shots, above 4,000m, you can even see Cotopaxi and the "Valley of the Volcanoes"!
All photos are in sequence of my truck ride up. Video will be posted in separate blog. Enjoy!
The series above ends at 4123m per the sign. The last 3 photos are intended to show the Volcano Cotopaxi which is approx 70km South from this location. You'll need to click and enlarge the photo to see it.
Pictures are surprisingly vivid on the iPhone 5S. There are some other factors including a clear day, steady hand and no wind which helps the photographer! The GoPro would have been a good thing to bring--but it was sitting a home.
This part of the road is when the Hilux and its high clearance really came through! First photo is taken from the location of the sign found in picture #4. In 2nd and 3rd photos is where I reached 4352m per my watch, but 4385m per the sign-- think mine is correct! :) All of these were uploaded in batches and then I moved photos, added commentary, and made sure I looked good with Super Duper Extra Photo Shop--hence some of the haphazard presentation. Also, I'm busy ppl! Raising this wonderful child is easy and pleasing.
The last 8 photos are at the max altitude and end of the road. From that location, folks stay at the refugio overnight in order to attempt summits at ~5,780m of Cayambe. Boots and crampons are needed as there are many glaciers. I could only stay for awhile at ~4600m as I was feeling lightheaded.
New Routines in Ecuador
/I'll reverse the order of the posting and photos from the previous posts. I will now post latest on the top.
Video of the horses at Cayambe.
Uploaded by Alex Aguilar on 2016-10-26.
A video of the horses currently at the ranch in Cayambe.
Variety of different views of the 6 horses of Cayambe hosteleria.
This shows the incline of the hill side where the horses live, eat, graze over 2-3 days depending on location, vegetation etc. The inclines are severe and numerous times Luca has slipped an fallen on horse sh*. No problem, since every other step is either horse, cow or dog sh*. That's why we have boots. Plenty of bacteria is entering out systems to keep the "balance" in our biomes!
This morning was very nice and Cayambe Volcano came out of hiding. You can mostly catch it in the distance in pics 3+, but the phone camera is not good with distances and clarity. When it appears, however, it's spectacular. This view is from 3,100m, Cayambe Summit is ~5,700 and the staging area (the Refugio, see below for those pics) is 4,200m and 25km from this location.
Pictures of the horses, brown is Oliver and the poor guy is last on totem pole. The white on, Valderoso, is the alpha male of this small group. There's a larger, brindle, "entero" male who dominates Valderoso. Valderoso barely lets me pet him at this time, never-mind capturing and forget about riding him. For now. He does respond to my "alpha" presence when I crack the "soga" (rope), however, he does it in a passive aggressive way. Horses as pack animal move away from pressure and the teaching approach is "pressure and release". The idea is they react to pressure and you are to give them "favorable feedback" with the release, if they do what you have asked. Val moves when I give him pressure. However, he purposely, and does this every time, moves and stops when he has given me his rear end to see. Not so good from a training perspective, as his behind is also where he can generate the greatest kick, while he flees, telling me "who's the boss now"? Very high school.
I arrived one morning and saw these two poor bastards. They live next door and were getting ready for the day of hoeing. The iron hoe is itself at least 100lbs, I tried and failed to move it. Well for $40 they'll work the whole day on the 45 degree hill--demonstrating amazing dexterity and strength.
LINK TO MOVESCOUNT--pending
I finally got the truck Caminonetta an oil change, a good cleaning (including engine) and some minor detailing done on the morning of Tues, Oct. 18. Then, I promptly drove it to Cayambe, checked on and moved the horses to the new pasture, got them clean water, managed to pet Val and headed off to the Refugio of Cayambe.
Base camp shelter for those who want to summit Cayambe's 5,700m. On the way, we picked up some passengers (local village kids heading up the mountain), 2 different groups caught rides. They smudged the rear windows, railing, baseboards, rear side panels, wheels even (?) with their DIRTY GRUMPY LITTLE HANDS. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Two different groups with two different ways of saying goodbye: one said "Que Dios de Bendiga". May God Bless You. The 2nd, "Que Dios te Page". May God Pay You.
I stopped on the way to the Refugio to mark location and take pictures of the mountain peak as it sneaked through the clouds. Plus, that truck sure looks good...even at 3,836m. However, that 24c is completely off (from inside the truck) and it was closer to 8-9c and windy outside. The road has many really Pakistani bad parts, but I never needed 4WD, and powered through on just rear wheels. Perhaps it was the just completed oil and filter change, but power came easy and was exceedingly smooth. I expected more push back as the air shortage would make it suffer, but that was not the case, at least not to 4k meters.
The cow sequence. Why is livestock here? In the National Park Cayambe, at almost 4,000m, by themselves, eating the native and delicate paramo high Andean grass?! And, get out of my way...
The refugio is another 500m north on the road, but this was a perfect place to stop, mostly because there was a turn-off, it was flat and I had to pee. 4,018m. Also, storms clouds were building and I wanted to get back to Cayambe for something to eat before I hit to R35 and the 1.25hr drive back to Miravalles. This person kept getting in my way as I tried to take pictures of the Caminonetta...
National Outdoor Leadership School, WY USA, Sept 2015
/Middle Fork Lake, see Movescount on mobile for the movie of this day's horse trek: Middle Fork
Here are some of my pictures from my NOLS course in the Wind River Mountain range, located in beautiful Wyoming, USA. This was the Horse Packing course that I took (4 days on the ranch, 10 in the Wind River Mountains) and was my "proof of concept", where I wanted to demonstrate to myself two things: 1) that my interest in horses and riding could be maintained for more than one day, 2) that I could finish this course. Phew, I did! Most of my cohorts on this trip grew up with horses/ranches/farms or were current owners and wanted additional/supplemental training for taking packed horses deep into the mountains. Most of them, as you would imagine, were also avid campers. In fact, my tenant-mate had recently spent each weekend for one month camping by herself, up and down the mid-Atlantic section of the Appalachian Trail. A very quite and nice person who was a champ with horse gear, her horses, her gear and her Physics (she taught at one of the Maryland Universities). And then..there I was, having been on 2 horses in 12 years and camping 15 years prior...
Yeah, this location is must visit!
Gerald "jerry" the banker
Bucky and me at the highest pass we travelled during this trip. Bucky was the smartest horse and preferred lugging packs with our gear v. human packs. Sweet horse.
Our tent for 2 weeks! Cozy at 0˚ C. With the proper gear that is, not with my tent mate. Note what we are sleeping on--the horse pads. Yes, the very same horse pads that provide cushion and comfort to the horses, shielding them from the harsh edges of the saddle and pack saddles. Horses, like humans, sweat all day through their skin. These pads, after 3-4-5 hours of riding, get pretty soaked with horse sweat. The preferred approach is to air them and dry them outside, and we try that, but mostly, we just put them into the tent floors. After a long day you can't imagine how much more comfortable these horse pads are than those synthetic, thin, sleeping bag pads. Why bother! During the first days, I dared asked, "but won't the smell of horse stank be intense"? The response---after 2 days everything you own and even your being will smell like horse. Nobody will notice, the smell. However, the comfort was supreme. Delicious even!
First Days In Ecuador, August 2016
/Random photos: views from our new home in the Quito suburb of Miravalles, the farmers market, inside the house, yard, more market produce. Luca wanted a new haircut and this is the shortest it's ever been on the sides! He was acutely homesick days 1-3 and cried each night, :(. School started, he made friends, and now it's "don't wait with me when the bus (school bus pickup is at front of our gate) arrives"! So, now I'm relegated to the hiding behind the gate, :)
I've struggled with what truck to purchase, new/used/make/model/year etc., so per usual, I resorted to a spreadsheet. Google Sheets, no need to relearn no commands, they are all very similar to Excel. Free. Hurray. I spent 2 weeks searching and driving and researching. The dominant web platform in Quito is PatioTuerca. Some postings are quite old, but most are alive and have current contact info and pics. Well, transparency of the history of the vehicle is pretty good, but the usage and possible damage/collision history is not something that I could find. So, after several false starts (wrong engine in the truck; seller doesn't show up; bait and switch), I said--let's go new.
I was very excited to have talked myself in the 2nd best truck I could find--but it was NEW! And shiny. And $ way over budget. Still, new, and diesel and had pretty good reviews. Not the truck I wanted (Toyota, HiLux, 4x4, Diesel--those start at $47k here). The used HiLux, back to same lineage history and inability to use services like CarFax to check for major issues. Anyway, I set a time to meet with the Asesor. He would not come of the price--there is no negotiation here. Damn. I said, OK. I will be back next week, once I move money around. Expect an email from me, Monday with details (this was Friday).
On Monday, I met with my landlord Sebastian to pay the rent and talk about other things. I mentioned I was buying a new truck and, where can I park it on the compound. He gave me directions and I joking asked, it's a nice truck--but I really was seeking a HiLux, like yours. Sell it to me....he said, to my shock, I was going to put it on the market this week! Whaaat....
Every time I see his truck I think, "Damn, 17" rims and protection, plus non-descript appearance". The key superior mechanical part is it's LSD in 4L. Not a diesel, and the horsepower plus the torque is less than the Mazda. Still. HiLux. Built at the Toyota factory in Thailand and then delivered built--not assembly here in Ecuador. That's plus to me, which the Mazda folks took as "unpatriotic". 75K miles, 2 owners. Sebastian and his "buddy". 2007, and he's a trustworthy guy who has the funds to maintain his vehicles (Including his 4-5 motorbikes). Lineage transparency! Yes.
Close the door and it's "CLUNK" and never tinny, like the others. Saves $10k, but not new and dirty. He uses it on some rough terrain. I'm pleased to be mobile!
Now that we're mobile, I gave my first "tour" on horseback on Friday, Sept 16. Two American's, Luis the ranch-hand and myself as the "other guide". Ha. 4.5 hrs loop around the Volcano Cayambe--no pics and it was a quiet ride, as I don't know the route, the horses, the country-side (this is North of Quito and not Cotopaxi), plus I was focused on learning the trail. Anyway, I spent 3-5 hrs each day for 10 days on a horse in the Wind River and my body didn't hurt as much as after this trip. Let's say the saddle was not "right". Some pics of the Hosteliera, which is on an enviable mountain top with spectacular views of Volcano Cayambe.
Gallery of random shots of the Hacienda/Ranch. Cayambe is the city. No pics of the volcano yet, but this ranch is on the very top of a hill facing both the City and Cayabme.
Below are photos of Luca's first visit to the ranch. The black and white dog is "Baca" and, yes we untangled some pigs!
