Man vs. Nature: An Unforseen Struggle

Wow -- what a day. I decided to rearrange me plans a bit in order to fit everything in, so rather than exploring the city today, I instead decided to do some hiking. I woke up bright and early and took a cab over to the South bus terminal. I grabbed a couple empanadas and tried some morocho, a warm rice pudding drink -- it was fantastic! From there I caught the 7am bus to Cajas National Park. It was a rather dreary morning: it was dark, there were ominous clouds overhead, and it was raining (though only lightly). Nevertheless, I continued on my journey with my fingers crossed. Now, in retrospect, based on the cruddy weather, along with the fact that I ended up missing my stop -- because I couldn´t find a national park -- I really should have realized that something was awry. But alas, how was I to know that the very fates themselves were conspiring against me, doing everything in their power to bring my adventure to a screeching halt. Indeed, if there was ever a day in my life that was utterly destined for disappointment and preordained for failure, a day in which the calamitous outcome was indelibly and inexorably written in the stars, then today was that day.

And yet, here I stand before you, triumphant. Though they left me bruised, beaten and scarred, I overcame every challenge the fates threw my way; they spat in my path, and I simply laughed in their faces. What more would you expect from the protagonist of this very adventure story, the champion of this epic?

I have thought long and hard how best to depict today`s endeavor -- for it was certainly no day hike, as I had anticipated. In the end, I can only think to describe it as an all-out, multi-terrain battle, man vs. nature. And, in the end, while nature certainly threw some unexpected blows, catching me off guard more times than I`d like to admit -- I held my ground, and ultimately stood victorious.

In the end, there were several forces acting in concert to attempt to bring about my demise. The weather was certainly not the least of them. It was COLD. According to my guidebook, the name Cajas may either refer to the shape of the lakes (similar to boxes -- which is what the word means in Spanish), or it could come from the Kichwa word caxas, meaning cold. Frankly, I tend to put more faith in the latter. In addition to the sheer colditude of the expedition, it was windy and rainy as well. Now, fortunately, for a good portion of the day, the weather was actually very pleasant -- it was pretty much always foggy, making the views slightly less spectacular than if it had been clear blue skies, but I think that is simply the nature of this beast. The problem was when the wind and rain really got going: there were definitely some pretty miserable periods. But all in all, the weather wasn`t too big of an issue. The big problem was the terrain. First of all, it was muddy...like, ridiculously so. It wasn´t so much of a hike as...gosh, I really don´t know how to describe it -- suffice it to say, I suppose, that there were many times where I would have been better equipped with a snowboard than with hiking boots. I was slipping all over the place, sometimes doing more sliding that walking. By the end of the excursion, I was absolutely covered in mud. In addition to the mud, the expectations of the trails were rather unforgiving. I had to hop from rock to rock to cross streams. There were areas of rather steep rock walls that demanded the utmost caution. And most of all, there were huge sections of mud, lakes even, where a single wrong step could (and often did) lead to a sticky mess.

The other issue with the terrain was the park itself: the paths were so poorly marked that I probably spent more time off the trail than on it. I hiked two trails today, the first one took about an hour, the second one a little over two. On the first trail, I just could not stay on the path. I was scaling vertical walls both upwards and down only to find myself at a complete deadend. The second trail, fortunately, was much better demarcated: there were paint splotches interspersed on rocks and trees to guide the way, as well as the occasional signpost. Nevertheless, many of these waypoints were so discreet that if you blinked, you´d miss them. One time, after being rather lost for several minutes, I happened to find my way back onto the correct path only because I happened to see a bridge (that I had missed previously) when I oriented myself for a quick bathroom break.

With all of this said, the entire experience was an absolute, undeniable blast. Granted, there were definitely points where I had my regrets. Sure, there were a few hills I almost went tumbling down, a few rivers I nearly graced with my presence. Ok, so there was that one time where I mis-stepped, ending up knee-deep in mud. But even with all of these things, it was a phenomenal experience. Just being able to say that I did it feels oh-so-gratifying. I think it will be hard for me to adequately explain the whole ordeal -- I have tried my best to do it justice in these last few paragraphs -- but honestly, this was definitely one of the most intense things I have ever done. And the landscapes...oh, man. It was incredible. The hike traversed such a huge diversity of terrains -- hills, valleys, swamps, forests. There were lakes, rivers, streams and waterfalls. Even when the dense, suffocating fog descended down from above, utterly encompassing everything in its wake, the scenery was still breathtaking. I really hope I managed to capture some of its natural beauty with the (many) pictures that I took. I look forward to describing the experience in even more detail to anyone and everyone willing to listen.

Before I head out, I wanted to mention one final thing about yesterday evening. I´m not entirely sure what for, but there was some sort of celebration going on yesterday, I think for one of the saints. Earlier in the afternoon I saw some dancing/performances. And then later at night they had live music, some floats and an impressive fireworks show. They had constructed a tower piecewise earlier in the day, and bit by bit it became part of the display: starting from the bottom and slowly moving up over time, it was equipped with lots of different fireworks which added to the exhibition. There were quite a few people in attendance; the tower was in open area, and most of the people had gathered on a large staircase above the square. The most impressive part of the whole experience was the utter lack of precaution: throughout the show, the crowd was frequently showered with sparks. Even the occasional misguided rocket would land in the frenzy. The real surprise, however, came with the finale. Unbeknownst to us, or at least to me, the stairs were all lined the fireworks, which went off in unison at the end of the show. So basically, as the final part of the tower went up in smoke and sparks, so too did the crowd. It was quite the sight. Fortunately I don`t think anyone got hurt. All in all, the whole experience was rather reminiscent of the church burning I witnessed in Spain for the Dia de San Juan. But then again, the Spanish at least had the foresight and common decency to station a single, unapt guard in between the burning inferno and the thousands of rambunctious onlookers. I mean, comon Ecuador, get with the program.