Andean adventures

by Basia Vanderveen

Culture , jungle and the world’s best chocolate

This October, I tried something new. I flew all day from north to south and landed in the highest situated capital city in the world, at altitude 3,000 metres. Quito, Ecuador is located at 3,200 m but the airport is lower in the valley. The trip, as you can imagine, was quite the high. I spent 10 days touring the capital and the area with a friend and business partner who has lived in Quito as of last year, following her life partner and his work. We walked around the old city and learned about the Conquistadores and Ecuadorian history with its brutal past, and we ate the world’s best chocolate. At that point, I was ready to stay put and never come home. Of course, I love my family too much, so instead I brought a suitcase full of chocolate home.

During my stay, we visited a town called Mindo in the jungle where we flew among parrots via zip lines and we hiked down to a waterfall and swam briefly with a few locals and tourists before climbing back up through a lush forest full of exotic flowers. As a trail runner, I truly enjoyed the hike and could easily spend more time in this forest. And there were many waterfalls we could have spent the day hiking, swimming and rappelling around. What joy!

Learn and rejuvenate

My friend also owns horses in Quito. We spent some time working with them, too. I am not very familiar with horses so this opened my mind to a new experience. Horses can teach us about boundaries and our own personality visa- vis other people. They are wonderful creatures that are not intimidating once you spend time with them and get to know them a little. I was grateful that my friend shared with me her expertise and passion for learning from horses.

Further, we drove through nearby mountainous terrain that reminded me of home, especially Gatineau Park with its “watch out for bears crossing” signs. There were cows out to pasture on the hillsides. Some of this landscape was very Swiss-like and you could buy local yogurt and cheeses along the route. Our destination was a thermal bath much like the ones back home, but set in a wilderness terrain with high mountains on all sides, more exotic fruit and flowers above our heads, hummingbirds everywhere, and local and indigenous people soaking and mixing with tourists. By the time it was dark, the crowds that included entire families with all generations, also with the wee ones, were playing with a beach ball in the biggest of the pools. I guess it was not at all like our local thermal bath, after all. I was filled with energy and a good appetite for what felt like the world’s best pizza down the road from the spa. The local cuisine uses a lot of parsley and I had no idea it would taste that good on top of Hawaiian pizza! It was delicious.

Higher than Mont Blanc

Needless to say, there are many options to climb the local Andes Mountains. In the city, there is a cable car that brings you to an altitude of 4,000 m, from where you can continue to climb higher via a local trail to the peak of Pichincha volcano at 4,600 m. The view of the city below is stunning if you’re lucky with the weather, which we were. I found it a very slow hike, however, since we were very high up and the air was lower in oxygen. I did not have a headache, though, and was happy to have trained somewhat ahead for this. My friend is not an athlete and was able to do the hike easily. She eats a healthy diet that includes a lot of fruit that is abundant in this country (I miss this already). We hiked up to 4,400 m and did not manage to squeeze in the entire trail loop. This was bugging me a lot and I had to find something else with whom to satisfy the need to climb higher.

We organized a day trip to the area’s biggest volcano. Cotopaxi had erupted only three years before, and the area was closed for a year due to uncertainty and ash residue. I didn’t know any of this so off we went carefree and happy to climb higher. We got to 5,025 m altitude, slowly. Our guide paced us perfectly. We rode mountain bikes down part of the way, adding to the thrills and enjoying the fresh air and views.

What an amazing trip this was. It shifted my perspective and renewed my energy ahead of our cold season. I already look forward to the next visit to Ecuador. Who is coming with me? We are organizing a retreat in Ecuador that will include some of these adventures. But, be sure to reserve your spot early as it is limited to a small group. Email for more information: bee@plantobestrong.com.

Basia Vanderveen is an athlete, coach and consultant active in the Glebe community.