Monday, March 28, 2011

We all went into town early this am to enjoy a traditional Ecuadorian breakfast: a plantain (type of banana) and cheese ball, potatoes in a peanut sauce, beef in sauce, and rice topped with a fried egg! Oh, I also had a yummy fresh fruit smoothie. I was stuffed! Farryde (our local contact) set us up on a tour with Edwardo, a guide that spoke very good English. He took us up to The Highlands. We all piled into a taxi (Toyota truck!) and off we went. Our first stop was “Los Gemelos” which are a pair of collapse or pit craters. After volcanic events of great magnitude, magma chambers are left empty, with huge lava tunnels. Over time, tectonic processes and erosion cause the volcanic roof to collapse opening up gaping craters to the outside world (copied directly from the information sign!!). These are very impressive, but hard to capture with a photo! The forest we walked through is called a Scalesia forest