Thursday, August 30, 2012

Wednesday August 29, 2012 Trip to Tungurahua 2


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Wednesday August 29/12 update
We headed out at 9:30 for the return to El Altar where we took more shots of the area and its people.   Crossing the one large river we discovered another “broken bridge” that is now abandoned as a tourist attraction, just like the one in Cuenca.  In the town of Penipe at the base of El Altar Michael paid an indigenous man in a yellow hat and poncho 50c to take his photo and asked him a question.  Then the man began reciting information non-stop until we drove away.   As we rose up the mountain it was odd that the lower part was just a dirt track, dangerous in the rain, while the upper part was oiled or paved.  We could see patches of blue sky but the higher we rose we just encountered more cloud, fog and drizzle or rain. 
We had no view of Tungurahua but we hung around for a while, hoping again that the wind would magically blow this cloud away but the weather got progressively worse.  We amused ourselves photographing the locals going up and down the road with their soggy animals delivering milk to some depots.  We do not have people living high up in our Rocky Mountains like they do in the Andes.  The differences in climate and composition of the mountains are the difference.   Volcanic mountains are incredibly fertile, so that is why the locals risk their lives to farm in this danger zone, with fields right to the summits.
It was a little frustrating to see the weather again get clearer as we descended.  I took many shots of the high Andes through the van window while in motion and also many shots of the mountains covered with patchworks of farm fields and some of the greenhouses.  The indigenous people are always doing something along the highway so we get a few shots of them always.   I am amazed how many shots turned out.   There are so many I am not posting them all, otherwise there would be over 100.
We stopped at one town that normally has a clear view of Chimborazo but again today we are out of luck.  We picked up some snacks and kept on motoring.
One of the features we did not like seeing were all the blue “death hearts” painted on the highways to show where people had died, mostly after a long downslope to a hairpin turn.  One location had many, many hearts and that was very sad.  I didn’t even realize until I was processing the photos that I managed to catch some indigenous ladies putting flowers at one of the markers.
That was today’s excitement.   Cheers, Al

Again I must apologize that Google totally fouls up the order of my photos.  Does anybody know of a free blog that will work better??

Penipe info man

Young boy on horse on PanAmerican Highway

Magnificent Andes

Indigenous gathering for something or other

This was the weather nearing Cuenca on the return

The beautiful church at Biblian

Church at Penipe at the foot of El Altar

Penipe guard dog

Magnificent valley and cloud jetstream

Looking down on Penipe.  We went WAY higher.

Panorama of the Penipe valley and the long cloud jetstream

1 Church on El Altar

High creek on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

More jetstream amonst the high farms

This wasn't the view we wanted of Tungurahua

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Escapee donkey

Caught, to be returned to the owner

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Cactus at our hotel

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar

Very soggy and unhappy donkey

Very soggy and unhappy horse

Mountain folk on El Altar

Mountain folk on El Altar in the clouds

Very soggy and unhappy goat

Amazing farms right to the summits of mountains over 15,000 feet up 

Soggy one-horned goat

2 Church on El Altar

One of 2 landslides we encountered on El Altar

3 Church on El Altar

Big banana load

Bringing veggies for sale

Church at Riobamba

Not the view we wanted of Chimborazo either

Farms to the summits

Death hearts on the road

Grazing donkey in the field

Mountain folk with their wares

Magnificent Andes mountains and valleys

More death hearts

Mountain folk in transit

Gorgeous Andes peaks

Death heart and cross marker

Stunning views of the fertile Andes

The Andes are a unique experience

I took this shot from a longs ways of a family in the field

Children are carried everywhere

Another church along the road

Broken bridge on the way to El Altar

Mountain folk doing their laundry

Indigenous putting flowers at a death heart and marker

Siblings look after young ones

These mountains are mostly soft volcanic

Andes farms right to the summits

Unrivalled beauty and fertility

The Andes are rugged, yet soft

The vistas are breathtaking

The roads are actually excellent through here

Some mountain peaks

Glorious views at every turn

I love the patchwork fields right to the top


This town is WAY up there