We did manage to pull off an amazing barbeque/housewarming party last weekend. I found the perfect grill on our way back from Mitad del Mundo, the super kitschy and scientifically inaccurate m
onument to the center of the Earth in Ecuador, which is actually about 200 meters away from the real equator. As you can see, this 50 gallon drum can comfortably hold 3 spooning beer-can-chickens and leave plenty of space for barbequed tofu. We had about 50 people over on our patio for barbequed ribs and chicken estilo americano, and everyone seemed pretty happy with the results.
onument to the center of the Earth in Ecuador, which is actually about 200 meters away from the real equator. As you can see, this 50 gallon drum can comfortably hold 3 spooning beer-can-chickens and leave plenty of space for barbequed tofu. We had about 50 people over on our patio for barbequed ribs and chicken estilo americano, and everyone seemed pretty happy with the results.Mom, stop reading here....
Today my buddy Nick and I decided we would climb Volcano Pichincha, which taunts me daily from the window in our living room. It's supposed to be a fairly simple climb from the end of the Teleferiqo, which drops you off at a little below 14,000 feet to begin the hike to the 15,700 ft. summit. Nick and I happily embarked on our trek towards the summit around 10:30 this morning. It was a bit cloudy, but conditions looked pretty good for most of the hike. When we got close to the summit, the clouds were in pretty thickly, but we decided we might as well push to the top. The trail had ended, however, so we just took off up a scramble of loose rocks with a bit of hand over hand climbing.
As soon a
s we reached the highest point we could get to (we call it the summit, although the actual path may have led to a higher spot on the volcano), the clouds opened up and we were surrounded by hail and lightening and thunder. I'm not a boyscout, but I seem to remember a few things from my youth about not wanting to be at the highest point in the city in the middle of a thunder storm.
s we reached the highest point we could get to (we call it the summit, although the actual path may have led to a higher spot on the volcano), the clouds opened up and we were surrounded by hail and lightening and thunder. I'm not a boyscout, but I seem to remember a few things from my youth about not wanting to be at the highest point in the city in the middle of a thunder storm. Nick and I snapped a quick photo and started our descent, but we were surprised to learn that the hail that fell over 10 minutes was enough to cover our entire trail with slick ice. It made coming down the way we had climbed up almost impossible, and we ended up sliding down a few hundred feet over steep, sharp rock on our completely unprepared, blue-jean-clad behinds. At one point I suggested waiting out the storm in a cave, but when I started sizing up the choicest pieces of Nick should one of us have to eat the other, we decided we might as well continue down the mountain and take our chances with the lightening. After about 40 minutes of harrowing alpine slip 'n' slide, we made it back to the trail, and found a few other wayward hikers who were equally concerned in not being hit by lightening. By the time we made it down to this horse, I knew we had the
same thing on our minds (“Why the hell am I up on this rainy mountain when it’s sunny in Quito?!?!) An hour later we were back in line for the ride back down the Teleferiqo (a LONG line, as the municipality was offering 1/2 price tickets for dad for Father's day), and we got to laugh at the sissies who were concerned about being hit by lightening just because there was a thunder storm all around the cable cars.
same thing on our minds (“Why the hell am I up on this rainy mountain when it’s sunny in Quito?!?!) An hour later we were back in line for the ride back down the Teleferiqo (a LONG line, as the municipality was offering 1/2 price tickets for dad for Father's day), and we got to laugh at the sissies who were concerned about being hit by lightening just because there was a thunder storm all around the cable cars. Thankfully, we soon made it back to home sweet home, where I lit a fire, Monique prepared an amazing lasagna, and we sipped duty free whiskey and chilean wine till Nick's girlfriend called him home. Next time I'll bring a better raincoat and some gloves, but otherwise it was quite the adventure.
Till soon,
D&M
