After a weekend of enjoying Cuenca, nine of my fellow
interns and I headed up north to the very small town of Pulingui. Pulingui is a
very rural town of about 100 people at the base of the world’s closest point to
the sun, the Chimborazo. The Chimborazo is Ecuador’s largest volcano (luckily
it is dormant so no need to worry), and due to the equatorial bulge is even
closer to the sun than Mt. Everest. Let me tell you, I have never seen nature
this magnificent! Even when driving up to Pulingui this gigantic volcano took
my breath away.
The journey from Cuenca to Puligui (which is right outside
of the city of Riobamba) was about 6 hours of uphill travel. At one point we
were so high in the mountains that we were looking DOWN on the clouds. The
Andes continue to amaze me with their magnitude, and the magnificence of the
Chimborazo takes it to a whole new level. So while I am appreciating nature, our
living conditions here in Cuenca are definitely au natural. I am talking
outhouses, cows and sheep, no outlets, no heat, the whole nine yards… But,
right now that hasn’t quite set in as I am still mesmerized by this volcano… so
I will save all that for the next blog. The sun did go down though as soon as
we arrived, (at 6 pm like always on the equator) and it was then that we realized
how cold living on the base of a volcano really is. I do not think my two little
sweaters are going to suffice in this 30 degree weather especially with no
heating! Luckily though my new bed is packed with warm blankets, so I will deal
with the cold tomorrow…
This is like nothing I have ever experienced before (and I
will expand on everything later, as I don’t think my two hours here are enough
the accurately assess the situation) but, as I looked up at the night sky
tonight and saw the most amazing starlit night sky that I have ever seen, so
this place may turn out to be okay...
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