So there we were, trekking (the new word for hiking) through an amazingly beautiful national park, in what is supposedly the dry season. Let me tell you something about what dry season means to me. In general, it means little or no rain. Apparently, that is not the way they use the word in this hemisphere. We had been told to expect fog each afternoon at around 4:00, with maybe some drizzle...
The sky opened up with cold wet rain. Lots of it. Every day.
Welcome to Cajas National Park, Ecuador. It is one of the most beautiful places Rachel or I have ever been to! We hiked for three days at elevations of 3000 to 4000 meters (Very high!!!). Something like 10,000 to 13,500 feet.
On the first day, the bus dropped us at the ranger station. Of course, this is not where we wanted to be. We told him we were going to ¨Tres Cruces¨ which is the start of the hike. We didn´t think that was where we were, but he insisted. It turned our that we were at the ranger station, 3 kilometers from the start of the hike. Lying meanie. So we paid our entry fee (which we could have done on the way out), and flagged down ANOTHER bus for the last few km to the start of the hike. We were basically dropped at the highest point on the road, and then hiked down for three days. Though it wasn´t just down, there was a lot of up too. Anyway, our knees are now shot.
The terrain was some of the most interesting and different that I have ever experienced. The book kept calling it ¨hummocky¨ terrain, but didn´t really explain what that meant. We assume that it had to do with the plants we were treading through, some of which were like tufty grass. But there were others like baby aloe which also could have been hummocky. Whatever. It became our favorite new word. Wherever we were, when we got to a tough part, we would say, ¨Oy, this is pretty hummocky!¨ or ¨Careful, its kind of hummocky up ahead here.¨ or ¨Look at the beautiful hummocky area over there!¨ always referring to different things. Fortunately, when there are only two people, it is easy to figure out what you mean even if you don´t really make sense (which we rarely do!).
By the way, I´d like to publicly apologize to mother nature for trampling over some of her very beautiful hummocky terrain and plants. I´m sorry, but you´re the one who put flowers in the path.
In many ways (that didn´t involve rain) the trip was a dream come true for me. I had always had a very romanticized idea of hiking up to the top of a mountain, seeing the peaks around us, hiking down and then up to the next one. This is exactly what we did. We would hike up to a pass, see all the beautiful lakes, rivers, waterfalls and mountains around us, check our map and guide, and hike down to the lake, past the waterfall, up the river, and to the next peak.
We used an often-accurate compass, an often-accurate map, and an often-accurate guide book to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go. It felt great... very real and adventuresome. Also, after the first hour of the first day, we didn´t see any other people for about 48 hours until the last day. We felt very at-one with nature, out in the elements, bringing in our food, filtering our water from a babbling brook, carrying out our garbage, and camping lakeside.
Up at those altitudes, even though it rains a lot, trees can´t make it in the rarefied air, so in the pictures it may seem very dry. But we were surrounded by huge powerful waterfalls, and more lakes than I´ve seen anywhere except Minnesota. The difference, is that the lakes are all connected by perfect little streams, lake after lake after lake.
The mountains were amazingly rugged and beautiful. It feels like they were ripped up from the sphere of the earth just long enough ago to grow stubble on their rocky faces. We got up to a pass that was the highest we were going to be, and it is at 4,100 meters (about 13,500 feet). It was the continental divide, so before the pass the rain that fell had a short trip to the Pacific, and after the pass it had a long journey to the Amazon river and on to the Atlantic ocean. The pass was surrounded by extremely high peaks and an amazing view of mountain lakes all around us.
But it wasn´t all a dream come true, some of it felt more like a nightmare:
The first day we got kind of a late start, and the rain began long before we got to our campsite. By the time we got there we were cold and wet, and we still had to put up our tent and get dry and eat. Rachel was freezing, and in kind of rough shape, so we threw up the tent and I battened down the hatches and filtered some water while she got dry and warm. Oops. We should have spent a little more time deciding where to place our tent. First of all, we were basically in a field of dung (though we managed not to put the tent ON any). Secondly, with all the water around, I figured we should be on this area over here that was kind of on an incline so that the rain would wash away. In my haste, I didn´t realize we were in what would soon be a riverbed. Within an hour, there was about an inch of water on all sides of (and even under) our tent. 
Amazingly, Norm (That is Norm our giNORMous tent) held fast and didn´t let any in. But our stuff was all soaked in dungy cold water. Oops. We have a video of water flowing all around the tent, but the pictures didn´t turn out. You´ll have to wait till we get home. However, it was only about 4:00 at this point, and we had a long time before it would get light enough to hike the next day, so we spent a lot of time huddled in the tent trying to stay warm, dry, and not too bored. We went to sleep too early, and woke up at 3:00 AM, but it was way to early to start hiking. However, the rain had tapered off and the sky cleared, and there was a beautiful full moon with a bright and wide halo around it. It was the first time Rachel had ever seen a lunar halo, and the widest one I had ever seen, taking up almost half of the night sky (I think because we were so high). Also, when we woke, we had an amazing view of the lake and surrounding mountains. 
The second day we had wanted to be camped before the rain but didn´t make it, and rather than be soaked and cold again, we camped where we were when the rain came, leaving extra hiking the last day (oops). However, we had learned our lesson about the rain, and spent an extra 10 minutes looking for a spot that wouldn´t be a river soon, and were rewarded by staying dry all night and in the morning.
After a while the rain tapered off, and the sky started to clear. By the time the sun was heading behind the mountains, the clouds that remained made the most beautiful, vibrant, and fiery sunset we had ever seen.
The third day, we started earlier, which is good, but it was still quite foggy. Let me tell you, when you can´t see the mountains and lakes around you, and are mostly but not quite sure where you are, it is really hard to use a map and compass to figure out where to go, especially when you are in a part of the park without any trails! We might have made one or two wrong turns, but then the fog cleared and we were at one of the most amazing vistas either of us had ever seen. 
There was a winding river below us, rugged mountain peaks above us, a huge mountain lake off in the distance, and tiny little alpine flowers all around us. Wow! 
But that was just the beginning of a LONG day. With the extra hiking left over from the previous day, we ended up hiking over 8.5 hours with our 40 pound packs. OY. We had assumed they would get lighter each day as we ate the food, but they only got heavier and heavier as they got wetter and wetter.
Speaking of wetter, on the third day we descended through cloud forest. This is a VERY wet region, where all the trees have moss and vines hanging all over them, and there is green growth EVERYWHERE. Aw, how nice. 
It really is beautiful. However, as I mentioned, we were descending (probably about 2000 feet) through it, and wet=muddy=slippery. It was hard work, we slipped frequently, and got REALLY dirty. We were worried the bus driver wouldn´t let us on (if we ever got to the road). But, eventually we did make it out of the park, and to the road, but by that time, of course, it was raining, and we were soaked. Then we had to wait for a bus, which seemed like it might never come. We had just hiked over 8 hours, and were soaking wet, and had to wait for 1/2 hour on the side of the road with cars splashing us as they went by before a bus came. Finally it did, and some exceedingly nice man sitting in front of us offered us an apple, which we gratefully accepted.
When we finally got back we splurged on a cab (which didn´t even try to rip us off even though we soaked his back seat), and got to our hostel, and paused at the front desk just long enough to ask the hostess to order us a Pizza Hut pizza with all the vegetables they had (which included corn). Then we hit the hot showers while we waited for the pizza to arrive. It was 2-3 times more expensive than any other pizza in this country, but was well worth it as we polished it off. After three days of canned tuna and more peanut butter than George Washington Carver ever ate, I polished of 3/4 of the pizza, then about an hour later we went our and got some more food.
In the end, it was an amazing few days, with at least two of our top five most beautiful vistas we´ve ever seen. But we´ll never do it again. We´ve been recovering in Cuenca ever since, and tomorrow we head to Vilcabamba (whose spelling I butchered a couple blogs ago). We had some great experiences today, but I think I´ll save that for the next blog.
We have uploaded a lot more pictures from the trek, one more beautiful than the next, so please check them out at the ¨pictures¨ tab above. The scenery is truly amazing.
Before I sign off, there are a few random things to share with you:
Rachel and I were playing travel Boggle, and I was very proud that I had gotten ¨smart¨ but she got a sheepish grin and told me that she had gotten ¨smarter¨ Very appropriate.
The other day we were in a restaurant, and I went to the bathroom, and while I was washing my hands, there was a HUGE BOOM!!!! It was so loud that I ducked and covered thinking surely it must be an earthquake or explosion or something. Turns out it was just the loudest thunder I´ve ever heard!
Back when we were in Baños, I swear to the god of duct tape that I saw a dog with dreadlocks. I knew I was in a touristy / hippie town!
Finally, every once in a while, you hear a ruckus in town. You poke your head out the door, and it is a truck with a loudspeaker. When we were in Baños, at the base of the volcano, we thought it might be an eruption warning message. But then as the truck passes, you distinctly hear the word ¨naranja¨ which means orange (like the food), and see oranges in the back of the truck. They are selling oranges! Really.... you feel the need to disrupt the entire city as you roll through exceedingly slowly just to sell some oranges? I know where to get oranges if I want some. Any store in town... any corner... any cart. It is not helpful for you to drive through screaming at the top of your lungs. There are oranges all over the country. Ok, end of rant.
Have a great day.
I must say, I am a bit disappointed that nobody (except Danny) played our little game. I expect better results this time. Where is the most beautiful place you´ve ever been? Everybody, enter it in the comment box below, and play along! By the way, Danny is the winner by default, and will get the nicest postcard we can find. Danny, please send us your address
-B
P.S. I have a brand new, cute (I assume), little niece, Sophia Adelle Levy, and I can´t wait to meet her!
Love, Mom/Debbie