09 Lost in the Andes and Peter's Place

Courtesy of the National Parks of Ecuador website.

Yep, we are still in Ecuador for this chapter, and will “land the plane” in chapter 10, maybe. This chapter touches on how serious I came to dying (one of many times) and one (of several) very interesting meals at Peter’s Place in Quito.

To find out why the heck I was in Ecuador for over a month back in Spring of 1984, check out chapter 08. I’ll give you a minute to read it as I cue up the Jeopardy music.

So, you now remember how I was a human soccer ball and about Monsé, thank you for reading chapter 08.

Because the boarding school formerly known as the Lowell Whiteman School and now known as the Steamboat Mountain School, located in (drum roll please), Steamboat Springs, CO is very nature oriented and in order to not have us endure the dreaded mud season, every Spring each class went on a foreign trip. Regardless of where in this world your class went, the trip had to include a multi-day hike or trek.

For our trip to Ecuador, that meant we were able to enjoy Cotopaxi during hike into the Andes. While most of our hike took place in the flatland that surrounds Cotopaxi, we did take a day hike onto Cotopaxi itself. We did not summit the volcano, that was never the goal. 

Our school arranged for a professional guide, not because we needed one (two of my classmates had trekked to Everest’s base camp the year before) but

was a requirement of Ecuador.

While anyone who walks with me won’t believe it, when I have a loaded backpack on my shoulders, I am more of a slow stroller instead of the usual power walker. I was always bringing up the rear on school hikes. I love to just take it all in. If we only covered a few miles a day I was fine with that. This hike was more like 5-6 miles a day. The first day went as planned. We camped under the stars.