Summit Trekking Ecuador - Page 1

Chemnitz - Berlin - Madrid - Quito - Otavalo

When I was a child, I read the novel In the Shadow of Chimborazo, but I could only imagine the fascination of these mountains. Later, the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt aroused my curiosity, especially the film The Survey of the World. And now that we had discovered mountaineering for ourselves in recent years, the time was ripe for us to venture into the volcanic landscape of Ecuador. Alexander von Humboldt had named a series of volcanoes in the Ecuadorian Andes the Avenue of Volcanoes. We wanted to climb some of them. The trek is planned to go from the lowest mountain to the highest, with periods of acclimatisation and rest in between.

After DB cancelled our trains again, we took the Flixbus to Berlin BER. A 3-hour flight took us to Madrid, where our group was complete. After an 11-hour flight on the A-350, we landed in the world's highest capital, Quito (2784 m). Our main guide, Jakob, met us there. We then travelled by bus for another 2 hours to Otavalo. On the way we had dinner in a small restaurant. Here we were again confronted with the current problems of the country. No water - no electricity: The hydroelectric power stations have had to reduce their production due to the ongoing drought. This means that, depending on the region, the electricity is cut off every 4-6 hours. The locals are prepared, and within seconds battery-powered lamps were hung in the restaurant. The wiring on the electricity pylons was also very noticeable, a tangle of the finest 🙂.

After arriving at the small, good hotel in Otavalo, not much happened. Long trip, early to bed. As usual on the equator, it got dark quickly, always at the same time. The sun went down around 6 p.m. and it got light around 6 a.m. As a smoker I also noticed that I was in a non-smoking country, in 14 days I saw only one person smoking. The hotel didn't know what I wanted when I asked for an ashtray 🙂.

Cuicocha lagoon & Otavalo market

Except for the summit days, breakfast was served around 7:30 every day, and it was always good. Today was no exception. After a short drive in our minibus through still foggy farmland, we arrived at the entrance of the National Park and a few steps away from the beautiful Cuicocha Lagoon. At an altitude of 3100 m we started the 14 km hike around the lake, also known as Guinea Pig Lake. It got its name from the island in the middle, which resembles the back of a guinea pig. Great hiking weather and a good atmosphere made the 3-4 hours entertaining, someone even had a bass box and played African rhythms. Manu and I had to get used to hiking in the mountains again, it was up and down, always with a view of the deep blue water of the lagoon. Wonderful 🙂.

Our lunch was often given to us in the form of a lunch box. This was also the case today. After returning to Otavalo, we planned to visit the handicraft market. The city is very well known for this, so if you needed handmade souvenirs, this was the best place to go. A little early in our tour, however, we would have had to carry everything from hotel to hotel for another 12 days. Our travel bags were almost bursting. So I spent only a short time in the hustle and bustle of the market while Manu spent hours there 🙂. In the evenings we ate at a restaurant near the hotel, usually opting for the very good beef dishes. The local beer is good, it's called Pilsner, which is more of a style of beer here.