Traveling is one of the most important things in the world. You learn lessons you might not have if you always live in your isolated comfort zone. You learn the differences and similarities of your life compared to other peoples customs. There are so many cultures with different ways of doing things out there: what they eat, the technology they use, the landscape they live in, and their economy.
What I think is the most interesting is the way they live their lives. In South America no one has completely based their life on business; they all like to have fun. For example, they work hard but they are always open to laughter. They also improvise a lot more than USA does because they don’t have the same resources. They don’t always need a piece of machinery to do their work for them. They still use oxen to haul things around. They don’t need satellite TV to get the news, they can use a radio. These people work hard to make a living and they don’t have a lot of opportunities or help in life. It is not like that in the USA, our lives are much easier.
There are many lessons I got from this trip that will help me in my years to come. One is to respect each other; you should be open to new ways of doing things and not get mad at people for doing things differently. Another is to improvise; you do not always need everything to be perfect, it just needs to work for you. There are many things you can do to help people here in South America. One big way to help is with their education; they don’t always get the money or resources they need. Another is to just be respectful. One other is you could donate money or time to families in need.
The earth is vast with many places to see. You can learn while having the time of your life. It is great to travel and I intend to always keep the gifts I receive from travel.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Peaks of Ecuador
The Andes Mountains in Ecuador are the highest part on earth from the earth’s core and the closest to the sun. This is true because it is on the equator, the farthest part from the core. There are five volcanoes in particular that are the highest in Ecuador: Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Cayambe, Antisana, and Sangay.
The Andes Mountains were formed by subducting plates. This happens when one oceanic plate slides under a continental plate. When the oceanic plate subducts, it melts and forces magma to rise, creating volcanoes. These mountains run from the top of South America to the bottom tip and are made by the Nazca Plate subducting under the South American Plate. In Ecuador there is a great valley that holds all the major cities in the central part of the country. It is called the Central Valley and is about 30 miles across and runs 250 miles North and South.
Chimborazo is 93 miles southwest of Ecuador´s capital, Quito, and is the highest volcano in Ecuador. Chimborazo is an inactive stratovolcano that has a height of 6,268 meters (20,565 ft) with a base of 20 kilometers (12.43miles) wide. A stratovolcano is a volcano that has been built by lava and ash piled up over time from multiple explosions. Experts say that Chimborazo´s last explosion was during the first millennium. The volcano´s peak is covered in a thick glacier that starts at 4,600 meters (about 16,000ft) and continues to the top. Due to global warming the glacier is losing one meter of ice a month which is concerning because it is a big source of water to the cities of Ecuador. The ice is also mined from the volcano´s slopes to make ice cream. Chimborazo used to be called Urcorazo which means ¨mountain of ice¨. There were many attempts to get to the top but the first to reach the summit was an English man named Edward Whymper in 1880.
Cotopaxi, 50 miles south of Quito, is the second highest active volcano in the world. Cotopaxi is also a stratovolcano that has a height of 5,897 meters (19,347ft) and a base of 23 kilometers (14.29miles) wide. This volcano is one of the most climbed mountains in Ecuador. Sometimes 100 or more climbers scale Cotopaxi in a week. It has a glacier starting at 5,000 meters (about 16,000ft) continuing to the top. More than 50 eruptions have rocked Cotopaxi since 1768 and experts say that there may be another big explosion soon. The most recent eruptions were in 1942 and 1975, but they were not very big. The most violent explosions were in 1744, 1768, 1877, 1903, and 1904. When the Spanish were fighting the Inca in the early 1500´s, there was also a big explosion that they believed to be a bad omen and they ceased fighting. Cotopaxi is also the grueling volcano my dad and I attempted to scale but failed due to lack of sleep.
Cayambe, 43 miles northeast from Quito, is the third highest active volcano in Ecuador with a height of 5,800 meters (19,024ft). It has been described as a Holocene Compound volcano, which means it is a fairly new volcano and is complex. For example it has many lava tubes leading to the surface; another is that it is not necessarily a cone like most volcanoes. It is more of a jagged, multi humped peak with many faces to climb. This volcano like so many others has a permanent snow cap. This mountain was first concord by Edward Whymper, the same person that first climbed Chimborazo also in 1880.
Antisana, 50 kilometers (31mi) southeast of Quito, is the fourth highest volcano in the mountains of Ecuador. Its height is 5,752 meters (18,867ft) from sea level. It also may be called a stratovolcano and is the most difficult climb within these five mountains. Another volcano in Ecuador is Sangay. It is the southernmost peak of the country and has a height of 5,230 meters (17,154ft). This stratovolcano is very active, in fact it is one of the most active volcanoes in the Andes Mountains and is said that it is constantly erupting.
There are many more peaks in Ecuador. Most of these peaks are substantially higher than the mountains in United States. If you were to climb any one of these mountains you would literally be at the top of the world. These mountains are major water and recreation resources to Ecuador and are preserved carefully. Mountains might be one of the most amazing things on earth and in the Andes Mountains it is especially fascinating because of how many volcanoes are so close together near the equator.
The Andes Mountains were formed by subducting plates. This happens when one oceanic plate slides under a continental plate. When the oceanic plate subducts, it melts and forces magma to rise, creating volcanoes. These mountains run from the top of South America to the bottom tip and are made by the Nazca Plate subducting under the South American Plate. In Ecuador there is a great valley that holds all the major cities in the central part of the country. It is called the Central Valley and is about 30 miles across and runs 250 miles North and South.
Chimborazo is 93 miles southwest of Ecuador´s capital, Quito, and is the highest volcano in Ecuador. Chimborazo is an inactive stratovolcano that has a height of 6,268 meters (20,565 ft) with a base of 20 kilometers (12.43miles) wide. A stratovolcano is a volcano that has been built by lava and ash piled up over time from multiple explosions. Experts say that Chimborazo´s last explosion was during the first millennium. The volcano´s peak is covered in a thick glacier that starts at 4,600 meters (about 16,000ft) and continues to the top. Due to global warming the glacier is losing one meter of ice a month which is concerning because it is a big source of water to the cities of Ecuador. The ice is also mined from the volcano´s slopes to make ice cream. Chimborazo used to be called Urcorazo which means ¨mountain of ice¨. There were many attempts to get to the top but the first to reach the summit was an English man named Edward Whymper in 1880.
Cotopaxi, 50 miles south of Quito, is the second highest active volcano in the world. Cotopaxi is also a stratovolcano that has a height of 5,897 meters (19,347ft) and a base of 23 kilometers (14.29miles) wide. This volcano is one of the most climbed mountains in Ecuador. Sometimes 100 or more climbers scale Cotopaxi in a week. It has a glacier starting at 5,000 meters (about 16,000ft) continuing to the top. More than 50 eruptions have rocked Cotopaxi since 1768 and experts say that there may be another big explosion soon. The most recent eruptions were in 1942 and 1975, but they were not very big. The most violent explosions were in 1744, 1768, 1877, 1903, and 1904. When the Spanish were fighting the Inca in the early 1500´s, there was also a big explosion that they believed to be a bad omen and they ceased fighting. Cotopaxi is also the grueling volcano my dad and I attempted to scale but failed due to lack of sleep.
Cayambe, 43 miles northeast from Quito, is the third highest active volcano in Ecuador with a height of 5,800 meters (19,024ft). It has been described as a Holocene Compound volcano, which means it is a fairly new volcano and is complex. For example it has many lava tubes leading to the surface; another is that it is not necessarily a cone like most volcanoes. It is more of a jagged, multi humped peak with many faces to climb. This volcano like so many others has a permanent snow cap. This mountain was first concord by Edward Whymper, the same person that first climbed Chimborazo also in 1880.
Antisana, 50 kilometers (31mi) southeast of Quito, is the fourth highest volcano in the mountains of Ecuador. Its height is 5,752 meters (18,867ft) from sea level. It also may be called a stratovolcano and is the most difficult climb within these five mountains. Another volcano in Ecuador is Sangay. It is the southernmost peak of the country and has a height of 5,230 meters (17,154ft). This stratovolcano is very active, in fact it is one of the most active volcanoes in the Andes Mountains and is said that it is constantly erupting.
There are many more peaks in Ecuador. Most of these peaks are substantially higher than the mountains in United States. If you were to climb any one of these mountains you would literally be at the top of the world. These mountains are major water and recreation resources to Ecuador and are preserved carefully. Mountains might be one of the most amazing things on earth and in the Andes Mountains it is especially fascinating because of how many volcanoes are so close together near the equator.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Cotopaxi
When we were in ecuador me and my dad climbed Cotopaxi. It is the highest active volcano in the world at 20,000 feet high. Me and my dad didn't get to the toput we got pretty close. We got to 17,000 feet. The day before we got picked up at our hotel and drove to the lodge at the base of the mountain. There we had a late lunch and dinner befor sleeping for about two hours befor geting up to climb at 11:00. We didn't get much sleep so it was a very tiring climb. We drove to parkin wich is abotut 500 feet above the base of the volcano. There we got our gear on and started climbing at night with only headlamps to see. The first part of the climb to the refuge was just as steep as every thing else but what made it hard was that it was like hiking a beach at a 50% angle, it was so sandy. When i got to the refuge i was so hot after the houre hike. I had four layers on and it was hot to be in all of those cloths. I had long jons, a sweater, a down coat, and a shell. I took off the down coat and put a thinner coat on and put the other coat in my back pack. I was still hot at 15,000 feet above sea level. We also had got on our crampons and roped up for the glature ahead of us. After the fefuge we hiked for a few more hours on a 50% angle glature with nothing around to hang on to exept your ice axe. I finally got to tired that we had to go down at about 17,000 feet. I reallised that i did not get enough sleep and that i needed to be in a little better shape. We then heded down and thats where i relized really how tired i was, i was litterally falling down onto the snow wanting to sleep. When we finally got to the car i took my gear off and went strait to sleep in the back of the car. We drove to the lodge where wepacked and got a couple hours of sleep before dirving back to quito. It was a life chanding expeariance that i hope to do again, i will not forget that trip. During the trip it was perfect wether and that made it even more of a great trip.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Spanish school
We have been going to spanish school for about two weeks and have learned a lot. We know the basics of how to creat a sentence and when to use Ser insted of Estan. Emma and I dont know very much vocabulary but we decided that we could learn vocabulary easier than we could learn to say a sentence right. So we learned how to congegate and use verbs first before learning the vocabulary. It has been great fun. We have class from eight to twelve in the morning with a half an hour break in between. I think I forget more than I learn but I take in as much as I can. It is a great school and I wish I could continue because I still have almost no clue of what most people are saying. It is very fun.
Thank You Letter to Host Family
These past two weeks we have been staying with a host family. They are a nice family of six but we only live with the two grandparents. Once in a wile some of the family members come over for dinner. It is a big house that we live in and we all have our own rooms. The one thing that is dissapointing is that my bed is as hard as a rock and no other bed in the house is. We had a great time at their house and we wrote a thank you letter to them in spanish. (Below)
Muchas gracias por permitirme estar con ustedes. Ustedes tienen una casa grande y una gran familia que me hace sentir como si estuviese en mi propia casa. La comida ha sido grande, sobre todo las sopas. Mi papá y yo esperamos la receta de usted, porque no hacemos muchas sopas en casa. La comidad aquí me da una sensación de felicidad. Prefiro quedame con usted antes que ir a un hotel donde no tiene ninguna de las comodidades del hogar. Una vez más, muchas gracias por todo lo que han hecho.
Dylan Crane
Muchas gracias por permitirme estar con ustedes. Ustedes tienen una casa grande y una gran familia que me hace sentir como si estuviese en mi propia casa. La comida ha sido grande, sobre todo las sopas. Mi papá y yo esperamos la receta de usted, porque no hacemos muchas sopas en casa. La comidad aquí me da una sensación de felicidad. Prefiro quedame con usted antes que ir a un hotel donde no tiene ninguna de las comodidades del hogar. Una vez más, muchas gracias por todo lo que han hecho.
Dylan Crane
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