The trip to Ecuador was an experience with capital E. Only a couple of times during the trip did I think about things at home, or still less, work.
The whole thing was organized by Die Zeit, a german newspaper, in cooperation with Hauser exkursionen, the biggest german operator in trekkingtours.
What was it about? Because it was the year of Mountains, declared by UNESCO (or something like that), asked Die Zeit Reinhold Messner to accompany a special tour, with emphasis on the people in the mountain areas. This happened on 24.4. - 12.5.2002, the goal being Ecuador with it's people and mountains.
Our tourprogram was in short first to acclimatisate by trekking around Chimborazo, test ourselves with Carihuairazos 5020m, rest a couple of days and then try to climb the Cotopaxi, with 5897m the highest active volcano in the world (or at least so people say). Ok, that was the climbing. We visited also Alao, a mountain village with great development project, as well as other interesting places.
Tour Diary
For those who are keen to read German, there is another place to view what people have written about this tour: the tour diary at Die Zeit. The most pictures there should wake a déjà vu -feeling in you...
Copyright(c) 2002 Jari Kirvesoja. All rights reserved.