An adventure
Senior Liam O'Sullivan vlogs about his two weeks in Ecuador.
The guide tells us that we have to keep sun block on hand even though we’ve been overcast for two days straight. She explains that, being at such a high altitude, we’re closer to the sun god. It’s a concise way of explaining that there’s much less UV diffusion so high in the mountains, and we could still get sunburned at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. And so our trek up Chimborazo began.
Each step more precarious than the last, we frequently stop. Not only just to catch our breath in the thin mountain air, but to gawk at each consecutively more impressive landscape. I’m simultaneously intimidated and slightly chagrined as I unsheathe my phone to snap a few quick photos.
How dare this mountain grow so high? How dare we hike up its slopes? It feels as if we’re meddling far beyond our ken, and that we’re courting disaster by entering the polylepis forest. This feeling is only intensified by a short ritual we perform with a chant and by entering the forest right foot first. I don’t understand the words, or the potential consequences if we don’t perform the ritual correctly.
The march back to our bus is somewhat less treacherous, so maybe the gods are pleased with our chant. Each step more confident than the last, we frequently stop. We’re still stopping for breaths, but by now, the clouds have drifted away, and we can see the full scale of our journey. It’s humbling to see how small we truly are.