Saturday, January 24
Volcanología: Primer Salida de Campo
Today was a very long day! I woke up at 5:45AM, ate some cornflakes and then took the Ecovia about four stops down to Quicentro and Estadio Olimpico to get on the buses for our "salida del campo" (field trip) for my volcanology class, which basically meant collecting rocks and getting dirty and learning all about volcanoes.
First, we took the bus from Quicentro down to USFQ and from there we drove an hour our so and then got out of the bus, south of Cosagna. We pulled off to the side of the highway and proceeded to cross the street and climb up a huge pile of dirt and rocks. Once everyone got up there, Theo (our professor) explained to us what kind of rocks were there and we had to find three different types, metabasalto, granite, and asfalto, or as I called them, black, green and grayish. After we collected the rocks we used a hammer to smash them and see what there composition on the inside was. It was pretty fun/scary depending on who had the hammer!
After that we got back onto the bus and drove another hour or so, until we pulled off the freeway again, to collect some more rocks. We did this a few times, and it doesn't sound like much fun but it was pretty entertaining. At this one stop, we collected these green rocks that were kind of like shale I guess, but they broke a lot easier. At this place we had to climb up this hill that was completely covered in mud, some girls were screaming and freaking out because they were getting muddy and then one girl lost her shoe! It was really funny! I guess a couple of years ago on this trip a girl got stuck up to her waist in the mud! Oh and some people were doing face painting, it was a pretty fun time, just running around, getting dirty and playing in the mud.
After a few more stops for rocks, we stopped in this little town and trekked through the jungle! It was so much fun! First we had to crawl through this barbed wire pasture fence, which I managed to get my rain jacket stuck on, then we had to climb down this 10 foot or so drop off, and then cross this bridge, which was pretty old school, had holes in the floorboards and swayed...a lot as you went across it. Theo insisted that we run across it, so we did! It was a lot of fun and a little scary too, because there were people in front of me and behind me, so I had to watch out for the holes, because I did not want to fall into the river! The bridge was literally swaying so much, and Theo had someone tape our class running across, in case anyone fell in, so that he could post the video on YouTube.
Once across the bridge we began our trek through the jungle. It was crazy, because there were like 60 of us and once we started going the foliage was so thick in places that you could only see 2-3 people ahead of you! I fell so many times (My definition of falling was wiping out and landing on my ass, and therefore I did a lot more slipping then actual falling. lol). We climbed up this hillside and since we were back kind of far and it had been raining all day, it was so difficult to climb! We were slipping everywhere! I probably fell at least 10 times, most of which were total wipeouts! After awhile I just gave up with trying to not fall and just started sliding down the hills. So once we got up the first part, which was pretty steep we started climbing down again, it was pretty intense though because it was really hard to find stable ground to put your feet on or grab onto. We then made our way to this creek, and started climbing up yet again. (No worries, I photo documented the whole thing!). This one part reminded me of the Lion King, when Simba is chasing Rafiki through that mess of branches or roots, yeah, I climbed through that. Haha. After some more climbing and sliding we made it to this cliffside, which had a great view of the town below. We then talked about the type of rock that formed the cliffside and the fallas that formed it, you know, all that jazz, before descending back down to the town. The whole trip took about 2 hours and is going to require a lot of laundry soap to clean my clothes, but it was so much fun and totally worth it!
The day wasn't over after that though, we made a couple more stops for rocks and then went to the hot springs in Papallacta. It was amazing! There were about 5 different pools, all ranging in temperature from cold to like 140ºF. In one of the pools there was this little cave kind of thing that we went into and sang in because it echoed really funny, and it was like a mini sauna in there too. So after chilling in the pool there for awhile we went to the really hot pool. But before getting into it, Theo told us to jump into the freezing cold river right next to it, and then run and jump into the really, really hot pool. It felt so good! I've never been in water that was so warm before, it was great! The water in this pool was like 10X hotter than any Jacuzzi I've ever been in. We ran back and forth between the river and the pool a few more times and of course I totally wiped out on my way into the river! There were about 5 people behind me, who all had these concerned looked on their faces because this was a hard core wipeout...but I of course just started laughing, because that's what I do and it was only the 20th time or so that I had fallen on my ass that day.
We spent about an hour and a half at the hot springs, before heading back to Quito, and to prepare for our next salida de campo which we also had to be up and ready to go by 6:30AM.
Overall this day was a total success! First we got really dirty and then we got to relax in the hot springs! Can you believe that this is for a class?!
Sunday, January 25
Volcanología: Segunda Salida de Campo
Today was another day that started off bright and early. I woke up and was like seriously? I can't believe I have to get up already! The Ecovia took forever this morning and we were almost late to the bus! When we finally got to the bus we went around the outskirts of Quito and collected some more rocks ad identified the different type of fallas that were present in various rock formations. I never knew that one could put so much thought into rocks and how different they can be!
After that we went to Cotacachi and Cuicocha. I went there before, when I went to Otavalo a couple weeks back, but this time I learned a lot more! I thought before that Cuicocha was a dormant volcano, but according to my professor, Theo, who's an expert on this stuff and does some work for the U.N. on volcanoes and the book he wrote, Cuicocha is the fourth most dangerous active volcano in Ecuador. This is because with the sulfur gas bubbles and everything that is going on in the Laguna, the volcano can reactivate at anytime. I was like wow, that's crazy. But it was still fun and I enjoyed the boat ride and getting to hang out with everyone some more! But it was so cold! I thought for a second that I was back in Ohio, because it was so cold, but then I remembered that its like -10ºF in Ohio with snow and that is not what I was dealing with. On the laguna we stopped for a bit, and I was just sitting there, as Theo was explaining something to us, and I was just amazed that my university classes are taking place in such a beautiful and interesting place!
Once we left Cuicocha we went out and found some more volcano rocks, but climbing the highway to get them was a little frightening! We couldn't really see around the corner, so we just ran that was pretty exciting. It was a fun time, but the movies we watched during the bus ride, I will gladly forget!
