Weekend from really long ago part 2

So after my Family made it to the house of my grandparents and had a really nice rest we wke up ready to climb Chimborazo! Chimborazo is 6310 meters, it is the farthest point away from the center of the earth due to the earths buldge at the equator. It is also the tallest mountain in Ecuador and taller than all mountains in the americas north of here, there are a few mountains in the andes south which are taller than Chimborazo. It isn't a very technical mountain and the only real danger is the weather. Which is completely unpredictable. I made the juice for breakfast, which was Tomate de Arbol, or as I like to call it Mango chiquito. We hopped in the car after eating, my dad, sister, uncle and grandfather and I. We drove through the country side We skirted the mountain and began to climb up one side. We passed small indiginious farms with llamas and cows until we entered the alpine zone where there were only small scrubby bushes and lichen. We saw vicunas! a smaller red version of the llama which is wild. They have been reintroduced to Chimborazo from Patagonia. They were all killed off but are making a good jump. We saw about 10 on our car ride up and down. We got to the turn off for the first Refuge. There was a box from a box car on the side of the road with two guys in it and we paid to enter the park. It was about three apiece. We drove up the mountain which had a grainy redish sandlike volcanic soil which is probably close to what is found on mars. The ground was crisscrossed with bike tracks... downhill biking the mountain is really popular. It is a steep but smooth down hill. We drove up to the first refuge where it began to snow, there was patched snow on the ground too. It was the first time that any one in my family had been in snow! I of course gave my dad and sister a babtism with a couple of snowballs. It was funny teaching them how to make a snowball... it was a completely new expirience for them! The snow was light and fluffy and was falling lightly. We parked the car at the first refuge to hike up to the second refuge which is 200m higher and about 1 km walking. My sister stayed behind in the first refuge becuase she hadn't brought more than a light windbreaker. I acompanied my grandfather who is 73. My grandfather is a beast we quickly left my dad and uncle in the dust. He just kept on trucking! The snow was falling and visibility was limited but with my support he just kept on going. THe second refuge is at 5000 meters, you definatly feel the lack of air at this elevation. We made it to the top and sat around a fire waiting for my dad and uncle. What we didn't know was that my uncle had turned back and my dad with him to check on my sister who was sitting in the first refuge. My grandfather and I talked with all sorts of people. There was a busload of Germans, Danes (Danish people?), and a few other European countries which were on a three week tour. We waited for about an hour before my Dad showed up... but the really cool thing was that I met another Rotary exchange student at 5000m. She is from France and she is really cool, she lives in Cuenca. She was with her whole family. She practices paragliding in France and told me that mountain climbing was in her blood and she does weekend excursions quite often in the Alps! I had a snowball fight with her and her siblings, I also discussed with a guide the option of ascendng the mountain at someother date! I want to do it and will definatly look into it. Finally my dad showed up and we descended the mountain, it was now snowing heavely and there was a good two inches of snow covering the ice and ground. We managed to make it down without any big falls! We returned to Riobamba where my guide book said that in the saturday market it is possible to buy juice with ice mined from Chimborazo! We showed up and looked for the juice stalls! When we encountered one and they showed us the dirty block of ice... it seemed genuine, so we bought juice. I got coconut and my sister and grandfather bought mora... which is a tart blackberry. The juice was exeptional... especiall with a dirty piece of glacial ice floating in it! We then went to the train station which I had read about in my guide book... The Devils Nose, a train ride from riobamba where you ride on the top of the train! We bought the $11 dollar tickets and another dollar to reserve coushins for the coming day! We returned home victorious, we had walked and eaten a mountain!