El altar

From Chimborazo across the valley and into the wilds of Sangay National Park we left Riobamba heading East to Los Altars, "the alters", the huge blown apart caldera of an ancient volcano high in the Andes. Ever since I read and saw photos about this place I've daydreamed of coming here and since I am my own boss here I decided we should make it happen. We drove East out of Riobamba to Penipe, onward to Candeleria, past the village to the hacienda above town where you begin hiking. It is a beautiful sunshiny day just like summer. The slope up is steep by cow trails passing through fields of corn and beans with big sweeping views of the folded green patchwork of the Andean campo west diving down into the valley. To the East dark brooding clouds, stopped up and blocking the high mountain passes. That is where we are going...

The trail winds through the fields, passing through pine plantations, an alpine bull pasture, and finally hugging the contours of the hillsides high above a deep river gorge into the high páramo grasslands. Big white collared swifts rush by in an audible whoosh of wind and in the bushes bright bouncy hummingbirds chirp and buzz like huge bees feeding on nectar. In late afternoon I rounded a bend to a glacial plain full of great house sized boulders, serpentine streams, and grazing cattle and herds of horses. This place is called the Collanes plain I've been told, a great valley between huge sheer ridges like a great cup in the mountains. Spilling forth from the cup in the far distance is a great waterfall cascading from the clouds. If it were clear we would be seeing the great spires of the alters snow capped rising above the mists, on our first meeting today though all we see is cloud and water spilling out of the azure lake of the destroyed caldera.

This is where we'll stay the night and I soon find our refuge on the hillside. It is nicer than I expected and we have a kitchen, and old fireplace, and cozy bunks for our stay. The view, even with the clouds, is amazing. Down below on the plain the white specks of cattle graze, half wild horses gallop across the plain, the distant specks of hawks circle through the mist, and the sense of humbling great holy space seeps into your bones and fills you up with wonder.