Volcano Circuit Carihuairazo - Chimborazo - Day 3

From Ecuador

More photos here.

Walking in rubber boots left a couple of sores on my feet. I applied new skin and wrapped the sores with self adhesive tape. At breakfast I asked Raul about wearing my own boots. He said that the first part of the trail was still very wet and I would need to start out in rubber boots. However, he would put our regular boots on top of the horses so we could change into them as soon as the trail conditions improved.

The first part of the trail was very wet and muddy. One horse got really stuck in it and slogged around alot. We were a little worried about it. Dien's shoes were on top of that horse and when she put them on later they had a bit of mud on them from all that thrashing around.

After about an hour were were finally able to swap the rubber boots for our hiking boots. Dien, Hans and I were relieved to have our own shoes back on our feet.

We saw a large group of llamas deep in a glacial valley below us. Raul told us that there were 200 llamas. It turns out that one of our horse handlers, Diario, is part of a 100 person collective that owns those llamas and the land they graze on. The llama is used to make clothing and as a food source. They have one baby a year.

Further on we saw waterfalls and a large lake called the Laguna Cocha Negra. There was no existing glacier there but there had been on in the past. Raul did not remember it but Diario who grew up in that area said that a glacier did exist there when he was young. Climate change is so obvious in the change of the glaciers around the world.

Farther on along the trail we came across another group of llamas. None of the llamas that we saw were wild. They were all domesticated. They have very interesting faces. We were able to get a few photos of these with Chimborazo looming up behind them.

Not too far past there we found our nights lodging - a basic refuge. There were no other travelers there besides us. I had my own room. Dien and Hans (who are married) shared a room with bunk beds. We ate lunch outside in the sun under Chimborazo. It was magnificent.

After lunch we walked down to see the wild vicunas. Vicunas are related to alpacas and llamas. They have much less hair but it is very soft. In Ecuador the Incas only allowed royalty to wear the wool from vicunas. Despite the fact they can survive at very high altitudes they are fragile. They can not live in captivity. They were extinct or nearly extinct in Ecuador. They have been reintroduced from Peru and are now protected.

Vicunas make a strange screeching sound - like a bird or a monkey. They would look at us and make the sound. They they would run (very quickly) away. They are alot faster than llamas who are not slow. We chased them around a boggy area below Chimborazo trying to get good pictures. Mostly I got pictures of their butts has they ran away.