Saturday morning I decided to go to Rucu Pichincha - a vulcano next to Quito with an altitude between 4700-4800metres (around 15500ft). Lauren wanted to ride with the Teleferiqo so she joined me (the Teleferiqo is a lift that takes you from around 3100metres to 3900metres up and you take this to get to the vulcano). We went on a bus (my first busride in Quito, just 25cents) and changed to a small shuttle bus for free. We got of at the vulcano parc and from here we took the Teleferiqo. It is a beautiful view from inside the Teleferiqo and even better when you get out on the top.
I said goodbye to Lauren who didn´t want to do the hike and I started walking. It is a very beautiful hike, but also hard. I came to a spot where i wanted a picture, so I asked the two young ecuadorians (25-30years) who were eating lunch, if one of them could take my picture. They were really nice! I then decided that it was time for a break. I sat next to them and we started talking (they knew english! :) ). Cilia and Fernando, two friends who had known each other since they were 10 years old. We did the rest of the hike together. Sometimes it got really hard, but we supported each other which helped a lot! It got more and more cold the further up we got. I didn´t know anything about hiking and didn´t plan the trip at all. I only brought my sneakers, a warm fleece and regular pants. Luckily Cilia had an extra hat that I could borrow to keep my head and ears warm. :)
After 3 hours we reached the top! There was almost no view because of the fog and clouds, but at this point we were so happy that we reached the top that we didn´t care. We had a lot of great views on the hike. Being on the top was just amazing and really quiet! We took some photos and stayed up there for a while. On the way down we met two young guys who were going up, they were the only two people we saw on the way back. We must´ve gone up a bit late.
On the way down it began to hail. Shortly after, this changed to rain. At first it was alright, but it got worse and worse. What i am about to write will sound awfull, but actually, even though we suffered, it was a great experience!
Our shoes and pants were soaked! My fleece as well - they had jackets. We were freezing our asses of. We had to walk slow to make sure we wouldn´t slip and fall into the mud. This was not only a physical challenge, but also a mental challenge. It was a long trip, but in the end we reached the Teleferiqo. Here Cilia and Fernando changed clothes (again, I was not well prepared) and I just took off my fleece and tried to heat up. There is a building at the Teleferiqo with a cafe and a shop, unfortunately it was not very hot in there.
We decided to get some tea/hot chocolate and food. When I got my tea, I was about to faint. I thought it was my blood sugar level that was low, so I tried really hard to measure my blood sugar. It took a while, but I suceeded. To my suprise, there was nothing wrong with my bloodsugar. I then remembered that I only ate a portion of oatmeal for breakfast at 9am and had a cup of tea. Then on the hike I had been drinking 0,5liter of water since it was not possible to get water after the Teleferiqo. Besides oatmeal, I only ate a snackbar and a few crackers. My guess was that my body was going out of "survival mode" and i was about to dehydrate. Cilia gave me some water and shortly after I was feeling a lot better - still very cold and wet though!
Fernando had a car at the end of the Teleferiqo and offered to drive me home! First we dropped of Cilia and then I got dropped of right in front of the door to my appartment.
I would´ve never made it all the way to the top of Rucu Pichincha or found my way down (it was quite confusing, not just a regular path to follow) without the company and support from Fernando and Cilia! I can recommend going to Pichincha, but you might wanna bring more water and food than I did, maybe also some gloves, a hat and waterproof clothes. ;)
When I came home, I walked straight into my room, changed to thermal clothes and layed down in my bed! A few hours later, Robert came and invited me into the kitchen where he was hanging out with some friends and cooking dinner. I was a bit suprised when I came into the kitchen. There was around 10-15 people, 2 bolivians, 3 americans (the girls who lives in the appartment) and the rest were ecuadorians. There was a lot of beer and even more meat!
- Besides working in a bar, Robert also works for the president. Most of the guests this night was his colleagues. One of them was pretty wealthy. He had bought a lot of beer and even more quality roast beef!
All night I talked to different people (they were all very good at making me practice my spanish - and they all gave me compliments for how fast I was learning :) ). Two of the men cooked roast beef all night and kept serving them to us and at the same time, they were making sure that our glasses were never empty!
Every now and then when a good song came on, everyone started dancing and I learned how to dance as an ecuadorian :b
At some point I asked what the time was (I wanted to do a daytrip the following morning and I was a bit tired) and I got this answer "Why? It doesn´t matter what time it is. What matters is what you´re doing and if you´re having fun". It only took me a second to realize that he was right and so I continued dancing, socializing, drinking ecuadorian beer and quality tequila for hours.
I will try to make a small post about how my diabetes reacted on my trip to Pichincha asap. Remember that comments and questions are more than welcome :)
I said goodbye to Lauren who didn´t want to do the hike and I started walking. It is a very beautiful hike, but also hard. I came to a spot where i wanted a picture, so I asked the two young ecuadorians (25-30years) who were eating lunch, if one of them could take my picture. They were really nice! I then decided that it was time for a break. I sat next to them and we started talking (they knew english! :) ). Cilia and Fernando, two friends who had known each other since they were 10 years old. We did the rest of the hike together. Sometimes it got really hard, but we supported each other which helped a lot! It got more and more cold the further up we got. I didn´t know anything about hiking and didn´t plan the trip at all. I only brought my sneakers, a warm fleece and regular pants. Luckily Cilia had an extra hat that I could borrow to keep my head and ears warm. :)
After 3 hours we reached the top! There was almost no view because of the fog and clouds, but at this point we were so happy that we reached the top that we didn´t care. We had a lot of great views on the hike. Being on the top was just amazing and really quiet! We took some photos and stayed up there for a while. On the way down we met two young guys who were going up, they were the only two people we saw on the way back. We must´ve gone up a bit late.
On the way down it began to hail. Shortly after, this changed to rain. At first it was alright, but it got worse and worse. What i am about to write will sound awfull, but actually, even though we suffered, it was a great experience!
Our shoes and pants were soaked! My fleece as well - they had jackets. We were freezing our asses of. We had to walk slow to make sure we wouldn´t slip and fall into the mud. This was not only a physical challenge, but also a mental challenge. It was a long trip, but in the end we reached the Teleferiqo. Here Cilia and Fernando changed clothes (again, I was not well prepared) and I just took off my fleece and tried to heat up. There is a building at the Teleferiqo with a cafe and a shop, unfortunately it was not very hot in there.
We decided to get some tea/hot chocolate and food. When I got my tea, I was about to faint. I thought it was my blood sugar level that was low, so I tried really hard to measure my blood sugar. It took a while, but I suceeded. To my suprise, there was nothing wrong with my bloodsugar. I then remembered that I only ate a portion of oatmeal for breakfast at 9am and had a cup of tea. Then on the hike I had been drinking 0,5liter of water since it was not possible to get water after the Teleferiqo. Besides oatmeal, I only ate a snackbar and a few crackers. My guess was that my body was going out of "survival mode" and i was about to dehydrate. Cilia gave me some water and shortly after I was feeling a lot better - still very cold and wet though!
Fernando had a car at the end of the Teleferiqo and offered to drive me home! First we dropped of Cilia and then I got dropped of right in front of the door to my appartment.
I would´ve never made it all the way to the top of Rucu Pichincha or found my way down (it was quite confusing, not just a regular path to follow) without the company and support from Fernando and Cilia! I can recommend going to Pichincha, but you might wanna bring more water and food than I did, maybe also some gloves, a hat and waterproof clothes. ;)
When I came home, I walked straight into my room, changed to thermal clothes and layed down in my bed! A few hours later, Robert came and invited me into the kitchen where he was hanging out with some friends and cooking dinner. I was a bit suprised when I came into the kitchen. There was around 10-15 people, 2 bolivians, 3 americans (the girls who lives in the appartment) and the rest were ecuadorians. There was a lot of beer and even more meat!
- Besides working in a bar, Robert also works for the president. Most of the guests this night was his colleagues. One of them was pretty wealthy. He had bought a lot of beer and even more quality roast beef!
All night I talked to different people (they were all very good at making me practice my spanish - and they all gave me compliments for how fast I was learning :) ). Two of the men cooked roast beef all night and kept serving them to us and at the same time, they were making sure that our glasses were never empty!
Every now and then when a good song came on, everyone started dancing and I learned how to dance as an ecuadorian :b
At some point I asked what the time was (I wanted to do a daytrip the following morning and I was a bit tired) and I got this answer "Why? It doesn´t matter what time it is. What matters is what you´re doing and if you´re having fun". It only took me a second to realize that he was right and so I continued dancing, socializing, drinking ecuadorian beer and quality tequila for hours.
I will try to make a small post about how my diabetes reacted on my trip to Pichincha asap. Remember that comments and questions are more than welcome :)
thank you so much my lucky son
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