Photos from Ecuador

Here are some of the best from the thousands of photos I took as the semester photographer.  I feel so lucky to have been able to photograph such a beautiful country as Ecuador and, although I don't think I will take up photography as a profession, I hope to continue taking pictures throughout my future adventures across the world.

(A few of the pictures were taken from teacher's cameras and I had other people take the photos that I am in.)

A view of Kroka's Farm.  Our dwellings are off to the right.

The big yurt (classroom/meeting room/sewing room/etc.)

Our wonderful teachers Thomas & Marcia.

Hurricane relief in Vermont after Irene.

Biking back from an early morning swim.

Leah entertaining us with classical masterpieces.

The rock climbing section of our Adventure Race in NH

An intense "skills test" at 5:30 in the morning.  Knot tying is rather difficult when your hands are frozen solid.

Putting in the floor of the Carriage Barn.

Helping Misha raise his woodshed.

The cheese cave at Vermont Shepherds.

Making sausage at Harlows.

Breakfast after a comfy (and dry!) night in the hay barn at Harlows.

White water paddling day with Misha.

Assembling a solar Hot Water Heater for Kroka as part of my "Big Job."

Packing solar panels to bring to Ecuador.

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 This was the view that greeted me the first time I saw Ecuador in daylight.  I stepped out of our dwelling onto a porch, still bleary from sleep and tired from the intense travel and late night the day before, and I stopped in shock at the landscape of mountains that surrounded me and the distant, snow-covered cone in the center of the view...Cotopaxi.

Roberto, our assistant teacher from Ecuador.

Palugo's kitchen

Guinea pigs!

Aster with the horses (taken through my mountaineering sunglasses)

Trophy display at Palugo.

Thorns!  Everywhere!

Out on a solo.

Irrigation tunnels.

Exploring the tunnels.

Empanadas in Pifo.

Watching the process of our quick dry pants being made at the outdoor gear factory, Tattoo.

Hiking Pasachoa

Thomas

Marcia

Hytham making a deer antler knife handle.

Hannah working on her knife handle.

Finished knives!

Ecuadorian sunset...

Roberto giving us our machetes.

Leaving on Expedition.

Learning about the culture and agriculture of the village of San Clemente.

San Clementian woman teaching us how to embroider.

Kids of the family I stayed with

Planting the fields

Carrying bricks to help in building the house of one of the San Clementian woman.

Soccer!

Some of the families we stayed with.

Hiking up Imbabura.

Resting in the paramo grasses after a long day of trekking.

Setting up camp.

Imbabura (taken from Culbilche)

To Zuleta!

Learning leatherworking in Zuleta.

Nelly working on her machete sheath.

Finished knife sheaths.

Read to bike over the Andes...and down into the Amazon.

Hot springs!

Still biking...rain and lightning, hot jungle air, dark, get lost, arrive at 11:30pm.

Our Cataraft named Yucca.

The Schnitzel.

Curious jungle kids.

Bigger than my hand. We saw them everywhere in the jungle.

Camping on the shore.

Hiking to Shiwakocha.

Oropendola nests.

Shiwakocha.

Learning how to fish.

Thatching a roof.

Carving pilche bowls.

Making "chicha," a fermented mixture of chewed yucca.  Yum!

Harvested ginger and cocoa beans.

Us and the families we stayed with at Shiwakocha.

Our last look at the jungle.

Rock climbing!

Otovalo -- the largest market in South America.

Halloween.

Trekking through the mountains.

Hila after crossing a narrow stream.

The morning after a fourteen hour day of trekking.

Lightning position in the middle of a hail storm.

Cotopaxi on the left.

Antisana

Glacier water. (Self portrait. Camera on timer.)

Hiking up to high camp at the base of Antisana's glacier.

Glacier school with David.

Self arrest!!

Practicing in rope teams.

A little bit of ice climbing practice.

Good bye Antisana!

Through the marshes.

Cotopaxi...

Turn eggs.

So close!

Warming feet by the fire.

Our final destination towering above us.

Trekking around the base of Cotopaxi to reach the south summit base lodge.

Huge river canyons formed when the last eruption melted the glacier.

Crossing huge sand dunes.

Hiking up to high camp. Weather doesn't look good.

High camp.

Climbing Cotopaxi!

Finally!  The sun!

Cotopaxi's shadow.

Watch out for crevasses!

Thomas

Everything looks so small!

The crater!

We all made it!!!