A visit to el Chimbo

While Stu headed out for another morning of llama genetic sampling with Cesar we packed our bags at la casa indigina. While I was off looking for coffee with Arthur the gatekeeper, Jorge and his son just walked in while the rest were sleeping apparently. He is so amused by us and can't get over all our strange devices, lamps on your head, bladders of water with drinking hoses, and bags to sleep in, "Como gusonitos"....he chuckled, like little worms. I can only imagine how we must seem to him.

We changed residences for the funky retro half finished Hotel El Glamour we stayed in here last semester before driving up to the slopes of Chimborazo for a day trip. It is nice to be back here up in the windy tussock grasses turning to high altitude desert. White windswept heights, the bizarre blips of bright desert succulents over the rocky landscape, and herds of wild grazing vicunas. Base camp up here is almost 16,000ft above sea level. The peak itself, almost 23,000ft, but today the mist rolled in and you cannot see the ice covered summit looming just atop us. I snapped this shot of Arthur yawning as if to say "23,000 ft....please, small potatoes". Or maybe it is just the fact that there is almost less than half the oxygen available at this altitude and even the most meager movements provoke fatigue. Arthur is the last of the group I've posted on blip. Now they are all there. I like Arthur, he is a smooth criminal in the truest sense and so mellow and down to earth. He studies sustainable building and green design at the University of Vermont and what he tells me of the place makes me so excited to visit Katie there in the spring!

After a picnic of tortillas and cheese, avocados and honey, we climbed up some of the nearby rocky ridges. Hannah in our group is the president of the "Naked Club" at Colby College in Maine. She has made the rest of the group into her converts and they are more interested in group naked photos atop the spines of Chimborazo than natural history today. The white bottoms must appear as a shining beam of blinding light from afar. A sight to behold folks. Fighting global warming one white albedo reflecting naked gringo body at a time.