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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Chimborazo

The final day of our grand mountain bike tour began with a one and a half hour drive to the refuge atop Chimborazo mountain. Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador, as well as the farthest point from the center of the earth, leading some people to call it the highest mountain in the world. Now we all know that when measured from sea level Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, however, due to the "Equatorial Bulge" or the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere, if you measure from the center of the earth, Chimborazo is actually higher than Mt. Everest. And it certainly feels like it up there; the air is thin, cold, and dry. The wind whips around and repeatedly slaps you in the face, it's like being snapped with a towel or hammered by a bad hail storm. Unfortunately for us, all of that wind didn't blow away the clouds, and the peak of Chimborazo stayed hidden all day long, but the ride was still great.
Here's our group at the refuge, ready to go!

The bumpy road down.

We started downhill from the refuge for about 7km on a bumpy washboard type dirt road. From there you go another 10km on a paved road that flips up and down more than Romney's positions. But once that first part is over and done with the real fun starts. From this point you take the old road to Ambato, it's a 40km ride all downhill through one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. At times you will think you're riding through the English countryside, with picturesque farmlands spotted with grazing cows. Other times you're riding through the Amazon, with vines and plants bursting all around. And the whole time you're winding along next to the babbling Ambato river... it's really quite amazing, like something out of a movie. This was by far my favorite day of the trip, and I would recommend the whole trip to anyone just so you could experience this last 40km. So without further stalling, I'll get right to the pictures!




 This next picture is a game called "Equivolley" which is probably the 2nd most popular sport in Ecuador, only behind football (soccer). Equivolley is similar to volleyball, but it is played with three people on each side, and the net is much higher which does not allow for spiking, also they use a football (soccer ball) instead of a volleyball. This makes the game much more focused on long volleys and strategy/placement, rather than just who can hit the ball harder.
Equivolly looks fun, I want a net in our yard.


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