We took a pretty quick ride in the dark, and stumbled off the bus. It was really dark, and we proceeded to walk into a heavily wooded area. It was a pathway, but a pathway under and inside a forest, with rocks and steps and tree roots which made it interesting, and mostly downhill. And in Ecuador, all I think about when going downhill is what it will be like when I'm going uphill.
Well, after a long walk-I don't know it had to be at least 10 minutes booking it through the darkness, we climbed some stairs, and there was a house/lodge sort of thing built into the mountainy area, and a bridge.
It was still pretty dark, but I couldn't help but notice this sign that made me nervous.
Especially since they had this one, and then another one in Spanish just to make it extra clear for everyone. I was in the first group to get on the bridge, but it was so dark that those pictures aren't so great. I did go on again at the end though, but I was getting even more nervous because he was letting more people on than the 5! Oh well, we're all okay now.
Since it was still only about 7am, the lodge was closed, and the other side of the bridge was locked up. We wanted to get closer to the higher waterfall, but to get there you had to go through the doors of the lodge. Well, that's no obstacle for my professor. It's times like these I wish my brother Thomas could be with me, because I feel like I'm living a life through his eyes when I do crazy things with Theo.
First one girl climbed up this steep hill through trees, then I followed and took a picture of the next person:
Well, after that Theo realized we would destory all the vegetation there if all 40 of us went up, so he asked if someone could break the lock on the door (he would pay the owner). Since that couldn't happen, people started climbing over the door. Which is a lot harder than it sounds-it's in the middle of a staircase, and if you fall, you fall a lot. Plus, the door was really high and the space above it was less than 2 feet.
Well, it was so worth the fight for those of us who made it happen. There were multiple platforms, and I loved it. I didn't realize until after that one pathway lead to behind the falls, because you had to crawl through it. I thought it only went kind of close to the falls and didn't think it was worth it. But since I've been behind Niagara falls I told myself that it was okay that I didn't crawl through the tunnel to go behind these falls. Anyway, the view was gorgeous, they were so powerful, and I took a picture and some videos-one of them shoots back to the bridge we were on before. Too bad I don't have a little fairy to fly over to the bridge and take my picture at the falls from there!
Now, this probably doesn't look all that bad. let me remind you-it's barbed wire. It was on a hill, so there was danger on either side, and on the side i needed to get to, were stone steps. awesome. The fence of barbed wire rope went almost up to my shoulders, so I couldn't just hop on over. I decided I could walk up it like a ladder, and hopefully walk back down. I got up, and got over with a lot of balance, but then i was kind of stuck. I was facing the way I was headed, and so I couldn't keep walking down or my pants would get stuck. I couldn't just jump, because it was hilly and full of hurtful stairs. Luckily 2 girls were coming, so I yelled AYUDAME (help me) and put my hands on their shoulders to jump down. I was pretty proud of myself, for figuring out a way almost by myself. and headed back up the path.
Well, if you recall, we went downhill to get there, which meant a fun walk up in the altitude to return to the bus. It was a lil rough, but so gorgeous. Someone with us pointed out the Amazon way in the distance, and there were inspirational wooden signs hanging up throughout the walk-pics on my picasa sight. We also saw a stretcher along the way, which made me a littttle nervous. It was just lying on top of some vegetation and looked a little beat up.
It was definitely worth it to wake up so early to see all of that, and of course to break into the lodge!!
TUNGURAHUA
So, we also paid a visit to Tungurahua, an active volcano in Banos. When I was googling info to finish my report for class, I stumbled upon an article written by my professor (which seems to happen a lot, he's a pretty famous guy). Check it out!
Even if you don't want to read it, at least look at the pictures towards the middle-there's two of the same location, before and after a big eruption. The whole area where we were sitting and learning used to be a community, and now it's rocks and dirt. The big wooden birds were also affected, as you can see in those pictures.
An indigenous man who lives nearby and another scientist spoke to us about the site, but it was hard to hear and understand everything. The people of Banos don't like to evacuate, because when they are told to and listen, nothing happens. But, when something does happen they often don't have anywhere to go. These people live on the side of an active volcano, but where will the go? For a short time, maybe they could find a place but what's the point if there might not even be a need to leave. For a long time, there's no way they can move-they have land, animals, and a family and cannot afford to leave. Instead, they live in danger every day of their lives.
There are lots of problems with the evacuations. I don't want to give a full report here, but I will tell you one thing that happened that's pretty interesting. There are power lines right by where we were sitting, and at the last big eruption, these power lines were affected by the lava from Tungurahua. Since the evacuation messages are sent by these power lines, no one found out that they needed to leave! Isn't that crazy?
Another cool thing that happened: while we were sitting there Tungurahua made sure we knew that it is still active! It rumbled, and spit smoke a bunch of times. I tried to get a pic of me and the smoke, but idk people here just ain't so fly with the camera skills. Here's one of the better shots. Yes, it's cloudy but check out the serious dark gray spot.
Just another fun note, I took this picture when we were on our way there: Ecuador's version of an alleyway. Slightly better view than New York City, eh?
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