A tired hiker atop Mundango

March 7, 2009

Ecuador certainly has its perks, crowing roosters right outside our window at 5 am was not one of my favorites.  After another broken night’s sleep Harly and I slept in until around 9.  Then we had some breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which included delicious homemade whole wheat bread.  After explaining our rooster situation to a man who works here 6 months out of the year from Montreal, named Marsell, he upgraded us to a much nicer room for the same price.  We took our dirty clothes to a local laundry shop and then headed to some really cool rock formations on top of a nearby mountain called Mundango.  We had heard it was incredible and only takes 1.5 hours to reach the top.

Wendy walking the ridge

Looking down on Vilcabamba

Harly, being in tip-top shape, had no problems climbing a super steep, rocky, loose dirt, and tiny trail.  I, on the other hand, thought first I was going to have a heart attack and second that I was going to get bitten by one of the enormous spiders we saw.  The view was amazing and we made stops at 2 peaks between ridges that had crosses on them.  We did a lot of ridge-walking and saw some incredible scenery.  When we finally finished the first part of the loop and started down, we were chased by snarling dogs, stomped at by big bulls, soaked in water and mud but made the loop and enjoyed ourselves (me, it took a few hours to realize that it was fun.)  Now its time for dinner and some live music.  We plan on joining some people for cocktails that we met on the summit of Mundango.  Keri and Tristin are from the UK and did the same hike we did today.

*Wendy wrote this one.

Happy we survived our first Ecuadorian Trek