adventures to el altar...part one

well...this past weekend was what i would call an experience of the best and worst times in my life. i experienced what i have never experienced before in my life...and was in the worst circumstances in my life...so...here is my attempt to capture this incredible 2 days into words and a few pictures...

to set it up: dan, a guy from england is an adventurous type who likes to go on little ecuadorian trips...so for 2 weeks about 5 of us knew that we were going to hike up a beautiful mountain called el altar..but we knew absolutely NO details...all we knew was to show up at the hospital at 5pm ready to go and catch a bus to Banos, then to Riobamba, then to our hostal for the night. When we all showed up to the hospital...Rodrigo, an Ecuadorian friend of ours, told us that he was going to be driving all of us there (see picture above) in his family truck....now...think about this: there are 7 adults squeezed in the back..and 3 in the front riding over 3 hours on mountains and rocky roads. if you cant see by the picture...well, this truck has seen its better days. if you ride in the front of the car, you can look down and see the road pass under you...its basically a skeleton...but it runs! anyways...we eventually get Banos, an hour and a half past schedule and head off into the mountains to our hostal..which sounds great....except its dark out...and Rodrigo and the 2 other Ecuadorian guys dont really know where they are going...and its not exactly a highway with clearly lit signs...in Ecuador...there is no such things as a sign...so...as we travel basically aimlessly around the mountains at 11pm at night...we put and putter up a hilll...and Rodrigo shouts in Spanish for everyone to hop out the back, get a rock to put under the wheel (so the truck wont roll backwards) and start pushing so the car will start again! mind you...its late..we are all hungry and tired...and pushing an old truck up mountains...and we dont even know if we are heading in the right direction!!!!
you would think that we could just get out and ask someone...except there arent many houses around...and no local gas stations :)...so we are on our own...praise God...at 12 am..we pull up to a house that is dark...and the 2 ecuadorian guys try to see if someone is home...Priscilla, an american girl who is fluent in spanish...decides to go up and help...and the home owners graciously said that they would take us to our hostal for 40 dollars...we were an HOUR OUT OF THE WAY!!! we had been driving aimlessly...and pushing....ahhh!
so..finally, we arrived at 1:30am at our hostal..and found dan there to let us into the freezing hostal (its in the mountains)...all of us tried to sleep...under 4 blankets..and still found ourselves cold. we were ready for our 6am adventure!



here is a picture of me, rachel, and amy on the camineta (truck) to our hostal at 1 in the morning...we were singing praise songs because we were so thankful that we were finally on our way..in reliable transportation!







the next day..we woke up, ate a small breakfast and hoped to be on our way soon..but everything was so complicated because we were going to be renting mules to go part way to el altar..and the mules were more expensive than we thought...which meant the ecuadorian guys couldnt go...which made things really complicated....but...we eventually were all off! let me just say, i hate mules ...i dont enjoy riding on them one bit! the first 5 mintues we were riding..i was scared out of my mind because the path/road we were all travelling on was 3 feet deep in mud...which means that the mules were sliding...and i was scared and fearful for my life...which was for good reason..becasue during the first 10 minutes of the ride...my mule decided to fall...so i fell off the mule! and it was perfect timing...because i was also taking pictures...so my lens was out and open and when i fell off the mule...i landed straight on my lens...so now i have no camera :(


below is the last picture that i took with my camera...it was a beautiful day though! the beauty kept my spirits high....which made it the best...the worse is yet to come...so stay tuned....with more pics...(borrowed from my friends)



this picture was taken JUST before i was bucked off my mule :) :(