Update From Tropical Ecuador: Volcán Cotopaxi

After a lot of foot work and a little luck, Jansa and I got the opportunity to climb the famous volcano, Cotopaxi. It was certainly a once in a lifetime chance. Cotopaxi sits at about 19,347 feet (Denali´s alititude is 20,320 feet). The volcano has a conical symmetrical shape, and has one of the only equatorial glaciers in the world.



With our friend Alexis as our local expert/guide and our new friend Sylvia, we started toward the mountain refuge on Friday morning (Nov. 21). After a some practice with the crampons and ice axe we fed our bodies and put ourselves to bed early (7PM).

We started our bid toward the summit (la cumbre) at about 1:00 AM on Saturday morning. The morning was tranquil, and I felt strong and calm as we walked so slowly across the crusted snow. The environment around us was surreal, walking beneath bright southern stars among the silence. After about 200 m we could see the bright lights shining from Quito. The silence was briefly broken by awe.

The calmness was short lived. As we ascended into the clouds, the thin air managed to blow ice sheets into our bodies. Step by step, we progressed towards our goal. The weather and especially the wind started to take its toll on the team. We were walking slowly, so it was easy for the gailing wind to sweep the heat from our bodies. Both Jansa and I agreed afterward that this climb was just as much of a mental challenge as a physical one. After about the fourth hour of climbing, the entire exterior of our bodies were frozen. At one point we had to stop and set our ice picks into the side of the mountain and lay on top of it to avoid being blown right off the mountain and all the way back to Quito. We were weary, but with the help of snickers and Jansa´s 4 dollar powerbar, we were still physically strong and reacting positively to the altitude.



We climbed on for two more difficult hours until we finally reached the summit. We did it! We had a small celebration that lasted roughly 37 seconds, as the wind was still blowing ferociously and kept us from wasting too much energy. There was little to see at the top, but we could look down into the abyss that was the Cotopaxi crater. We tried to take some photos, but even the cameras were frozen solid. Not to mention we were much to cold and tired to do much, especially remove our hands from our gloves. We managed to get a few good photos on the summit with Sylvia´s camera. At one point, I looked at Jansa and his lips and eye lids were completely black. I knew that I had a good amount of ice in my beard and probably looked the same. *At this point, Jansa would like to say for the record that Cory´s beard reached its ultimate bad ass level in the history of his beard* Fortunately, the sun was starting to peak over the crest of the volcano and we knew warmth was to come.

Shortly after reaching the top, we started our descent toward the refuge. These next 3 hours were trying. Jansa was especially exhausted, and a little drunk from the altitude. By the end, it honestly looked like he was walking back from Jack & Dans after a night in May 2007! We did, however, have some amazing vistas on the way down. The clouds would occasionally part, and we could see the foothills crawling off the glacier to the Andean highlands. These views have been etched in my memory. It really felt like I was in a 737 flying over this country.

Jansa and I are both very proud of the accomplishment. We decided that climbing Cotopaxi is the type of thing that is a lot more fun after you are finished. The truth is, it is a lot of work and a mental challenge that rivals anything I have done before.

Sadly, because of camera malfunctions on the mountain we have few pictures of our climb, and the ones we do have simply do not do justice to what we saw and experienced. That being said, enjoy the few that we found remotely worthy to put on here.

Where The Wild Things Are!

Swimming with the pirahnas and much more...

Jansa and I had another successful outing, this time in the Ecuadorian Amazon. We hired a tour that took us to the far reaches of the Cuyabeno National Park (very northeast corner of Ecuador). We took an exhausting overnight bus from Quito to Lago Agrio followed by a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the park, then another 2 1/2 hours by a motorized canoe. We were deep in the jungle! Both of us had an awesome 4-day experience. Thanks to our guide, we saw tons of wildlife including: anacondas, freshwater dolphins, monkeys, parrots, mccaws, sloths, colorful butterflies, poisonous frogs, pirahnas, tarantulas, and lots of other creepy crawlers. Needless to say, Mi Mi was not really excited about the giant cockroaches or the hand sized tarantulas in our room.

The Amazon is truly a unique ecosystem. We were able to see, first hand, the extreme competition among the millions of species to survive. It seemed that every animal had a specific edge in order to stay afloat in this dynamic phenomenon of evolution. For example, butterflies who had wings designed to look like an owl eye or a bird that from up close looked exactly (I mean exactly) like a tree branch. I swear that nearly half of the plants and animals we saw were poisonous. Also, it was very obvious that the trees and vines were involved in this "fight for life" as they would twist, turn and jut out toward the river to compete for sunlight. I cannot even begin to describe how impenetrable this part of the world is. No wonder it is impossible to categorize the infathomable flora and fauna in the amazon. We were both inspired to experience this completely new wilderness with some intimacy. The jungle is so different from anything we had every seen before. Awe.


We stayed in thatched hut style dormitories and ate like kings. We fished for pirahnas and it looks like the Mi Mi fishing curse may have been dispelled. Not only did not hook hook his face this time but actually caught a pirahna. We hiked around a nearby lake (so dense), swam in the rivers, visited some indigenous villages, and sat down with a medicine man. One of the most memorable things that we experienced in the jungle was on our 3rd night we got one of the most incredible and violent thunderstorms that I have ever seen. The storm lasted 10 hours or more with lightening every 2-4 seconds (big lightening and close lightening). Jansa, myself, and some of our jungle buddies sat on our hut porch, drank beer, and watched this monster tormenta.

Free Internet Equals Ramblin'

Hola amigos y familia! Jansa and I are safe and doing great! We had a wonderful past 3 days in the Andes. We spent some time hiking in and around the Quilitoa crater "pictured above" and some indigenous mountain villages. It has been a very genuine experience; more than I ever dreamed.

Both Jansa and I joked as we stumbled through the Andes that no pictures or words would do justice to our experiences. This has proved to be very true; although that didn't stop us from taking pictures. After some initial debate Jansa insited that we at least attempt to write about it for the sake of his beloved mother who loooooves to hear about all details. We apologize to our experience for what will ineveitably be a poor rambling rendition of our trip, but we shall try anyways (besides, my blog name is the RAMBLIN' Corkademus, it only makes since that I ramble on incoherently about some of our trips).

Heres a brief summary of our first mini adventure. After spending some time north of Quito in Otavalo we jumped on a bus to head south to the hike around the Quilitoa Crater. We changed buses three times and witnessed quite a bit over the course of a day. Everything from mountain villages, markets, farms, children on their way to school, the impressive magnitude of Quito, the stretching slums of Quito, several volcanoes, and more indigenous mountain communities. Afet spending the night in the first of a series of mountain villages and the morning at the weekly town market we got ourselves to the Crater. No words. Simply marvelous. After hiking down to the crater and back up (1,000 feet climb) we headed on a 5 hour hike to another neighboring mountain village. Our guide book gave some simple instructions, the people we spoke with gave us some basic advice, and we took a picture of the posted map of the hike. Needless to say within 45 minutes of our journey we were completely and hopelessly turned around on one of the hundreds of interlocking trails that weave in and out of mountain huts, farms, and canyons. We did not want to come off as some American buttheads stomping through these indigenous family farms with their overstuffed, fancy backpacks. However, avoiding this intrusion proved impossible after hiking around in circles, continuing to get stuck on various cliffs and slot canyons. Turns out the different farmers proved to be our saving grace and some of the nicest people we have met. Each time we came across another farm we were greeted with kind smiles, basic conversation, and much needed guidance to get through the many valleys and trails of the Andes. Needless to say the hike was phenomenal beyond words; up and down mountains, past huts, animals grazing on steep slopes, through a small village unreachable by road, back and forth across a river, rain dumping on us during the daily mountain thunderstorm, down one side of a massive 1,000 foot plus canyon and back up the other side, capped with an arrival at our village destination completely soaked and exhausted. Yet, we were greeted with the gifts of hot instant coffee and hammocks to lie in.

We decided to spend another day and night (which consisted of more hiking that was equally as amazing but less crazy, excellent hammock time, a massive thunderstorm enjoyed from the cover of our porch, and card games with some of the villagers) in the mountain pueblo of Chegchulan so that we could enjoy the beauty that we were surrounded by more fully.

The bus ride home confirmed our thoughts on the bus system: CHEAP, beautiful views, and an absolute cluster****! The bus ride down the mountain ended up having people crammed in every corner, including the roof. Que ridiculo!

Life is good, life is grand, life is great. We will continue to ramble as the internet presents itself.

On a side note, Michael Jansa has proved to be absolutely brilliant when it comes to speaking Spanish and saving the day (this sentence was written by Michael Jansa).

Obama for your Mamacita!

Both Jansa and I made it safely to Quito without any major hangups. We had a crazy experience of being able to watch history in the making as America elected our first black president. The hostel we stayed in had almost all the US news channels going. And it was on everywhere we went. We watch the electoral votes and projections with a multi-national group. People from Norway, New York, Britain, Ecuador, etc. Very interesting!

Anyway, today we are off to a famous market in Otavalo (just North of Quito). I will have more photos to come later on. We have been hunkering down in Quito to get our bearings. . . and now we are ready to get our travel pants on. Stay tuned.