Cerro Puntas

So this weekend I had my first Andinismo trip. The trip was to a dormant volcano called Cerro Puntas. Nobody in Ecuador has ever heard of it, but I was excited nonetheless. I spent this week getting supplies which included a sleeping bag and tent. We left for the mountains from the University at 9 am on Saturday. We had to take a bus to a small town called Quinche which has a huge church and lots of street vendors. From Quinche we took "taxis" which were actually pickup trucks where you could ride in the back. I didn't manage to get in the back on the way there, but on the return trip I managed to get a seat in the bed of the truck. After about a half hour ride we ended up at a hacienda where the actual hiking started.

The hike was pretty much amazing. It was harder than I anticipated at first because you really feel the lack of oxygen. Plus since I had never gone backpacking before, the fully loaded backpack was pretty annoying most of the time. After I got accustomed to everything though, it was loads of fun. The paths were at times not even paths and we had to fight through large bushes and high grass. It was also cool because there were no other people hiking there, just us, some cows and a wolf. Unfortunately at around 2 on Saturday it started to rain. We quickly found a clear area of grass and set up our tents as fast as possible. The problem with the campsite was that there were these large plants that were very bumpy and everywhere. Therefore we had to wait for the rain to subside and then some of the guides flattened them with machetes. We ended up staying at this place for the night, instead of pressing on to the planned spot. As a result we didn't actually get to the peak of Cerro Puntas.

The camping was fun though. The rain subsided and we ate dinner outside. The food I brought was a big stick of salami, chorizo, bread, and a hunk of cheese. After three meals of this, I was pretty sick of it, although it wasn't bad. We were promised a campfire which never happened, so we were pretty disappointed about that. However they did make hot tea which was delicious and one of the guides brought an ipod and speakers. He had the most random selection of songs which included I'm a Barbie Girl, Party in the USA, random Latin American music, Pink Floyd and Dragonforce. We ended up going to bed around 8 and I spent the next two hours trying to find a comfortable sleeping position which was practically impossible.

In the morning we walked close to Cerro Puntas, but did not have time to climb it which was disappointing. The views were amazing though. Our campsite especially looked like it came from a camping magazine for very rugged men, so that was pretty exciting. I came back home pretty exhausted. I also looked homeless because my pants ended up ripping and were completely filthy as well. I think it helped deter muggers so I might continue with the homeless look though.