The Toll Men

Climbing the glaciers to the summit of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador isn’t highly technical. It is mountaineering, but how hard can it be, considering I went to 20,600 feet the first time I used crampons and an ice axe? Okay, I used them once for practice, on a sledding hill near my house. I climbed forty feet while people walked by with their sleds, telling their kids to stay away from me.

It’s also easier to climb when the guide drives you to 15,000 feet. Don’t get me wrong. Climbing the last 5,600 feet was incredibly difficult, but not for the skill required. The air missing half of its oxygen is what had me quitting twenty times on the way up. It just gets difficult to move up there.

The Chimborazo Graveyard

The monuments near the first refuge weren’t for climbers without skill. The graveyard is a warning of the unpredictability of all high places. Chimborazo is very high, it randomly shruggs off large rocks, and has weather that changes by the minute. While hiking to the second refuge, we could hear the rocks and pieces of ice falling somewhere above.

El Refugio Edward Whymper is an unheated hut at 16,000 feet, named after the English climber who first summitted the mountain. Okay, it isn’t entirely unheated. There’s a fireplace, and if somebody feels like carrying wood up to 5000 meters, the fire may raise the temperature in the hut by 3 degrees.

We had hot mugs of “mate de coca” a tea of coca leaves, which are also used to make another product - one that’s taken up the nose. We went hiking for twenty minutes - my acclimatization. We ate, and I slept for an hour before starting the ascent at eleven that night.

About Mount Chimborazo

Chimborazo is in Ecuador, near the Equator (100 miles south). The elevation in the center of the country, and the moderating effect of the Humboldt Current along the coast, gives the country near perfect weather. A bit hot in the lowlands, but spring-like in Quito (the capital) , with highs in the sixties to low seventies every day of the year. Great weather almost everywhere–until you get high enough.

The summit of Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. Our planet bulges at the equator, making Mount Chimborazo even futher out there than Everest. It has the distinction of being the closest point to the sun on the planet. Unfortunately, it’s also the coldest place in Ecuador.

Climbing Chimborazo

Paco, my guide, didn’t care for the lightweight part of my mountain climbing adventure. He frowned at my sleeping bag, which packed up smaller than a football, and weighed a pound. My 13-ounce frameless backpack didn’t impress him either. It did get below freezing in the hut, just as he said it would, but I stayed warm - as I said I would. No problems so far.

Unfortunately, Paco didn’t speak any English, and I was just learning Spanish. Since our whole group consisted of him and me, we had some communication problems. I thought, for example, that the $11 fee for the “night” (a few hours) in the hut was included in the $130 guide fee. He thought I was a mountain climber.

I think he said he didn’t like the papery rainsuit I was using, and he frowned at my homemade ski mask. When he saw my insulating vest, a feathery piece of poly batting with a hole cut in it for my head, I just pretended not to understand what he was saying.

I hadn’t intended to go climb Chimborazo with such lightweight gear, but I’d come to Ecuador on a courier flight, and could bring only carry-on luggage. I had12 pounds in my pack to begin with, so by the time I put on all my clothes that night, the weight on my back was irrelevant. The weight of my body, however, wasn’t. Paco had to coax me up that mountain.

Hiking On Glaciers

The glaciers start near the hut, and hiking became mountaineering. I put on crampons for the second time in my life (there was that sledding hill). During one of my many breaks (”Demasiado” - too many, which I pretended not to understand), I noticed my tiny, cheap thermometer had bottomed out at 5 degrees fahrenheit. I wasn’t cold, but I was exhausted at times - the times when I moved. When I sat still I felt like I could run right up that hill.

We struggled (okay, I struggled) up Mount Chimborazo, hiking, climbing, jumping crevasses, until I quit at 20,000 feet. Of course I had quit at 19,000 feet, and at 18,000 feet. Quitting had become my routine. Lying had become Paco’s, so he told me straight-faced that the summit was only fifty feet higher. I wanted to believe him, or the lack of oxygen had scrambled my brain. I started up the ice again.

The Summit of Mount Chimborazo

We stumbled onto the summit at dawn. Well, okay, I stumbled. Paco, who seemed slow and tired down at the refuge, was energetic at 20,600 feet. Dirtbag Joe, a nineteen-year-old kid from California with ten bucks in his pocket, borrowed equipment, and my Ramen noodles in his stomach, was waiting for us, smiling.

The sky was a stunning shade of blue you can never see at lower elevations. Cotapaxi, a classic snow-covered volcano, was clearly visible 70 miles away. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes.

Handshakes all around, and it was time to head down. I was told you don’t want to be on Chimborazo when she wakes up. She wakes up at nine a.m.

Paco kept looking at his watch and frowning. He got further and further ahead, like he planned to abandon me on the mountain. When I finally caught up, at the hut at nine a.m., I heard the rocks falling out of the ice above as the sun warmed it. Now I understood - we really did need to get down by nine. A thousand feet lower my mountain climbing adventure ended with a photograph that mercifully can’t show my shaking knees.

Note:

To climb Mount Chimborazo, it’s cheapest to wait until you get to Ecuador to make arrangements. Talk to almost any hotel manager in Riobamba, and he or she will find a guide for you. It’s also cheaper if you’re part of a group.

Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of ultralight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheBackpackingSite.com

{to my fiancée, Charlotte Belialba}

If you met me in my youth
In the days I was wilder and freer
Could you have loved me still?

If you met me in my youth
When my heart was restless and untrue
Could you have persevered and stayed?

The mental picture of you which I’ve always painted
Soft-haired, flowers on your head
Starry smiles beneath idyllic eyes
Lovely lips, supple skin
Would you have loved me then
Like you love me now?

The scent of my Summer siestas
There on the magical swing
Beside the generous apple tree
In the backyard lawn
Of Cousin Mike and his family’s home

Moments spent yearning for my own ‘lao jia’
Could you have been dreaming and hoping
In the same moments for someone like me?
Could I have been the portrait of your love
Even if I had not arrived?

- 10:58 a.m., Monday, June 14, 2004;
Surrey, British Columbia
While listening to “When I See You Smile” by Bic Runga
(’Beautiful Collision’; 2002, Columbia)

©2004 elf ideas

About the Author: aLfie “eLf” vera mella was born in 1971 in Metro Manila, Philippines. He was a very inquisitive child who had shown fondness for reading and writing at an early age. He graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, but the literatus in him never left his heart. A true artist, eLf was the vocalist of a New Wave band, named Half Life Half Death, which served as the musical vehicle for his poetry. Before he left his beloved country in 2003, he was working as an editor of and writer for scholastic books and magazines. eLf is currently living in British Columbia, Canada, serving as a caregiver for his maternal grandfather. He may have left a well-loved work but for a noble reason, and he never ceased from doing what he loves most since childhoodwriting. Virtually always home, he usually spends his solitary nights reading, researching, and writing about various subjects of his interestchiefly, Culture, History, Literature, Mythology, Music, and Sciencewith New Wave music always lingering in the background like a gentle breeze on a quiet sea.A writer at heart, eLf started inditing his thoughts around the age of six; and he intends to continue documenting his feelings and ideas until his twilight./http://www.elf-ideas.blogspot.com

Source: www.isnare.com

Hey I bet you are saying to yourself what does love got to do
with it? That my friend is simple, it’s got everything to do
with it! You can’t stand there and tell me or even sit there and
tell me that love doesn’t have or play a huge roll in your life!

It has everything to do with you. You want to find a mate and be
loved, don’t you? Say yes, because I know this to be true. Now
why is it are primal interest to love and be loved? When Adam
was alone in the Garden of Eden, he got lonely and God in his
infinite wisdom, decide to make Adam a mate, from his own rib
even.

Now why would Adam become lonely in the Garden of Eden, a
perfect place? Now do you see were the very first love and be
loved took place? That’s right with the very first person and
God agreed with him, so he really must have been lonely and
wanted to be loved!

Now we know for a fact that God loved Adam and perfectly I might
add, but why was that not good enough for the human race? It’s
simple he felt the need to be loved by another human to be
complete.

Now do you feel that God made a mistake here? I mean he is the
all knowing, the alpha the omega, the begging and the end, so it
would seem that he knew it all, does that make sense to you so
far?

Well if he knew already that Adam was going to get lonely, why
wouldn’t he have created Eve at the same time? We’ve already
stated he knows all, so why make Adam suffer all those years?
Was it because he loved to see him in pain? I think not!

Now here goes another one of my crazy theories, God knew Adam
would indeed get lonely, so this was no big surprise to him.
What we don’t understand is why God didn’t make Eva right from
the get go? Why not you may be asking, well that’s a very good
question you asked and I’ll do my best to answer this question
of yours.

It’s sort of like this God knew Adam would get lonely, but he
also knew that we as humans built in his own image, would get
lonely by ourselves and that we would need a mate. The two shall
leave there home and become one. Now here is the tricky part of
the whole thing! God knew that Adam and Eve would eat the so
called forbidden fruit of good and evil, knowing this he created
them anyway, not because he didn’t love them but because of the
fact that he loved them.

Now here is were it gets heavy. The so called first sin was
actually the first realization that we are part of God, the Holy
Spirit will never leave or forsake you, and do you believe that
statement? Well my friend Jesus himself said this and as far as
I know he was the only sinless soul. Now would you agree with me
on this?

Ok we have established that fact that we come from God and we
have the Holy Sprit with us always. Has it ever occurred to you
that we are collaborators in creation? What this means is God in
his infinite wisdom, knew that Adam was incomplete and knew he
needed a mate and he also gave us free will.

Now on ward this free will was not the first sin as we
suspected, it was actually that we were human beings and
connected to God. Yes God wanted it from the get go, for there
to be a man and a woman. Why then was Adam lonely, it was God
experiencing this, all of Adams feeling and this is why we are
called collaborators in creation.

Now when God and Adam grew tired of being lonely and wanted
another person to be with them, he created Eva, now adding a new
dimension to the relationship, was two humans together both one
with God, yet they were creating their time together and God was
pleased and he was now exercising the joy of a complete human
race.

So Adam and Eva feel in love in the human form and were
collaborators in creation with God, that brought his
understanding of the human relationship and how he was
experiencing the relationship with them and all humans to come
for generation and generations and it all started with the
basics of love is all there is and when God felt that he needed
more than the human races feeling, he then sent his only son The
Jesus to earth to feel all that was left out with just human
relationships.

He experienced love of the only true form and that would be
Jesus, the only sinless soul, who would transform this thing we
call death, which started when we first realized that we where
part of God.

Now can you see how that love is all there is and God created us
to love one another and the two shall become one and love thy
neighbor as you love thy self, so yes love does play a big role
in the workings of the whole universe and yes love is all there
is!

In the early 90’s it was seen that the capital had no exact method of advocating or rating Czech restaurants. An idea was presumed to invent a book which would be teeming with prominent London places to eat including Eastern restaurants plus a range of costs. The eating guide would be in the shape of a tiny pocket book and this would make it straightforward to carry around with you.

What makes the eating guides so special and unlike from any other publication is the fact that the restaurants are reviewed by ordinary individuals, not proficient eating reviewers. Following the success of the food guide, later followed the achievement of the site, The restaurant review website itself might often tell you just about anything you need to consider about pretty much any Kosher restaurants in London, it’s easy to navigate around and has a brilliant search region where you just have to put in the name of the Swiss restaurants and what area it is in & restaurant review website will find it for you.

The rating based website itself has 3 different sections in all, the English capital Restaurants, United Kingdom restaurants & Venues & Parties. the English capital and Great Britain eateries are pretty self explanatory, locations and parties is a section that offers venue & service hire. If you’re looking for Caterers, check out Hardens.

Parties & Events is all based on endeavouring to make organising a party or possibly an event as painless as possible. the places to eat have options to help you with everything along with suggestions on what Harden’s think will work well and added extras. The 1 st sub section is the venue finder, with this all you have to do is enter your city and the number of guests that would suit you & the website may bring up all the venues and galleries. There is also a services finder so if one would are looking for Dublin Caterers to cater your Xmas party then maybe Hardens is currently able to make offers for you. Other options consist of wedding entertainment, food and drink, disco equipment & other essentials.