Legends say that thousands of years ago two of the greatest warriors of the Andes, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo, fell in love with the beautiful Tungurahua. For many years they battled constantly through violent eruptions and seismic activity until Chimborazo proved to be the strongest warrior. He won the heart of Tungurahua, married her and together they had Guagua Pichincha (guagua means child in quechua). It is said that when the Guagua cries his mother wakes up to see what is wrong with him.
Back in 1999 the Guagua Pichincha became active; it covered our city with of ashes many times over the following years. And a couple of months after its activity started the Tungurahua also became active and has been ever since.
The beginning of our climb up to the Guagua Pichincha
The Guagua Pichincha, is part of a large volcanic complex that lies approximately 10km west from Quito's city center. The Guagua, the highest peak of the complex is an old stratovolcano that is currently active. The summit is 4,784 meters high, but that was not where we were headed. We started our walk at about 4,000 meters and instead of taking the easy way up through the dirt road, we climbed through the mountain side. We climbed up for a couple of hours until we reached a fork where you can either go to the right and arrive at the Refugio at 4,500 meters, that is the path you should take if you are attempting to reach the summit. However, we weren't going to the summit, so we turned left through a path that takes you to approximately 4,600 meters. This path reaches the rim of the Caldera and it is a popular spot for people who want to see the inside of the volcano.
The Caldera is approximately 6 km wide and shaped as a horseshoe, as one of its walls collapsed after one of its eruptions more than 50,000 years ago. Inside you can easily spot an old lava dome that remains from the 1660 eruption. This was the last major eruption, it lasted 12 hours and left Quito covered in 30cm of ash. Near the dome there is a large crater created in the 1981 eruption and besides that one a smaller crater that was left from its latest eruption in 2002. Inside you can also see a very active fumarole that has a constant stream of water vapor and other gasses coming out of it. Our plan for this trip was to reach this fumarole. The climb down into the volcano was not exactly easy, in fact what started out as a a pleasant walk up a mountain turned into one of the hardest climbs of the year for me.
The inner walls of the volcano are steep, sharp and scary looking. They are a mix of large stable rocks with smaller loose rocks and a very fine and slippery sand-pebble mix. Not only was it scary and hard, it took us almost 4 hours to climb down the 600 meters needed to reach the fumarole. Once we reached our final destination it was 2 in the afternoon and I felt completely worn out. I had fallen a couple of times so I was a bit bruised, I was covered in dirt, and my enthusiasm was pretty much gone. I might have even shed a tear or two. And the worst part was knowing that I still had to climb back out of the volcano.
Usually our climbs up the mountains are "easy" because you climb to the summit and once you are up there and tired all you have to do is walk back down, and walking down a mountain takes a lot less effort than climbing up. This time we climbed up a mountain, down into a crater, back up to the top and back down to the bus. The truth is I felt like giving up more than once. But in cases like these, you can't give up, it is not an option, you have to continue because you can't stay inside of a volcano for ever, and no one is going to send a helicopter to pick you up unless you are gravely injured. So you have to put all your fear, all your insecurities, and all the pain in your muscles aside. You have to put all that in the back of your head and find a way to keep on going.
In the end it is worth it. It pushes you out of your comfort zone. It breaks you down. But after it you are left with the satisfaction of knowing that you made it.
standing on the rim of the caldera
The inner part of the caldera, you can see a larger crater from the 1981 explosion and right next to it a smaller crater from 2002
Climbing down the inner walls of the Volcano
This is what the walls of the caldera look like from the fumarole...the red line is the route we took to reach the craters
Standing right next to the fumarole, probably not the safest or smartest thing to do
Climbing back up the steep and unstable walls of the Volcano
The beautifully sharp peaks that form the walls of the volcano's caldera
The 1999 eruption that darkened our day, covered us with ashes and filled us with fear. I did not take this picture.
Chuquiragua flowers, found only above 2,600 meters and endemic to Ecuador
