Cold morning, but clear views

Carihuairazo from Tom's front door

It's been really cold in Ambato and there has been quite a bit of snow higher up in the surrounding mountains. We were shivering at 11 degrees C in the house yesterday. The Ecuadorians don’t build their homes with heating systems; it’s not considered necessary, so we sat with a blanket over our knees and hot water bottles, just like Santo Domingo.

This morning, it was a little warmer and much clearer. I could see the volcano Cotopaxi to the north and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the sight. It’s absolutely massive – awesome, in the proper sense of the word.

The Illinizas seen over the ridge around Ambato

To the west, from the front door of Tom and Lucy’s house, there was Carihuairazo covered in snow. Tom said it was unusual to see it like that as normally it's dominated by the 20,000ft Chimborazo behind and just merges into the bigger mountain from our viewpoint. This morning Chimborazo was covered by cloud, so you could see Carihuairazo framed against a curtain of cloud.
Carihuairazo is a caldera (the stump of an exploded volcano). This happened a long time ago, and the heavily eroded caldera opens to the east. Despite having its top blown off, Carihuairazo is still 5000m high and contains a fast-disappearing glacier. In its day, it must have been at least as big as Chimborazo is now.

To the north-west, just showing above the ridge which surrounds Ambato, were the twin peaks of the Illinizas, again covered in fresh snow and shining bright in the sun. They looked Alpine in the morning sun; it’s unusual for them to have such a whole white flank and to stand out so clearly above the ridge. They’re 5,200m and volcanic in origin.

Around 9am, we went to buy meat for lunch and some beers and, on the way back, we had an amazing view of Tungarahua (just over 5000m), the most active volcano in Ecuador. This sits just to the south and it's the first time I've seen it. All week it's been shrouded by cloud. Today, it was snow covered well down its slopes and its summit crater was facing us in Ambato. I couldn't get a photo because I was driving, but it's a truly awesome sight.

There's so much violent geology in this country - it's amazing and a little bit scary for a fen dweller like me.

Our evening film was Death of Stalin – something of a black comedy, cleverly done.

©️ Photos by Tom Rayner