Howdy ya'll. Man has there been a lot going on. This past weekend was a blast. Friday night my friend Nora had me and my new homies [Lizi, Glo_Mama, Anna, and Sarah] over for a splendid dinner. Then on Saturday I woke up and headed up to Banos to drop off some stuff. Long story short, my buddy Jeff knows a guy doing research down here and I brought some of his stuff down so he didn't have to ship it. Well it turns out that when I met up with the science guy in Banos, whose name is also Jeff, he was with his wife and two girls from the research program. Before I knew it we came buddies and spent the day in Banos enjoying the hot springs at the top of the mountain. Okay quick note of clarification. My buddy Jeff from Hope will now be referred as Hope-Jeff and research Jeff will be known as science-Jeff. Okay so Hope-Jeff met up with us at the hot springs, and then BA-DA-BING BA-DA-BOOM I find myself in the back of a Geo Tracker packed with six people all headed to the city of Rio Bamba. Now Rio Bamba is up in the mountains and is where science-Jeff lives and does his research. He is a geographer who is getting his Ph D. mapping glacier melt on the volcano Chimbarazo. Awesome dude, and of course since he was doing research on a volcano what do you think we did on Sunday. You betcha, we hiked all over that volcano. Here is the short scoop. The elevation of the volcano is 20,564 feet. This is high. So high that no mountain north of it in the western hemisphere. This also means that the entire mountain is above the tree line and there is glaciers/snow on the top. Also... because the earth swells at the Ecuador the peak of Chimbarazo is the furthest point from the center of the earth and is the closest place on earth to the sun. Early Sunday morning I was suited up in snow gear and dropped off at 16,500 feet on the side of the mountain. This is exactly 3,300 feet higher than I had ever been before. The air was thin and crisp and it was incredible. The day started up in the clouds but as we descended the sun decided to come out. The experience was incredible, the pictures don't do it justice.

As for the week, it has been great. I am working on an eye brigade and this basically means that I have traveled to a different city every day and worked as a translator in eye clinics. Totally amazing and I have some great stories that I am saving for my next blog. Peace out and God Bless. I leave you with some cool pics.

 The team at 16,500 feet (cold but ready to rock)

 Up in the clouds, only rocks up this high

 The hike to the glaciers

 hello blue sky

 glacier insulated under the dirt

 lots of glacier under the dirt

 doing science in a mountain stream

 clouds rolling out

 the north face

 cool view

 the valley not a tree in sight

 The top of the mountain decided to come out

 panoramic view

 snowy peak

 the grassland at the bottom

CHIMBORAZO!