Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition Dispatch

November 6, 2010 – Team meeting in Quito

This is Leila Silveira reporting from Quito, Ecuador at the beginning of our expedition. Our team arrived a few days ahead of schedule so the meeting today was not exactly the first day in Quito for all of us.

When possible, it is always nice to be able to arrive early in Quito to help with acclimatization. The city itself is located at 9,186 feet above sea level. It is a great place to relax, walk around and enjoy the first days in Ecuador. Some of the members decided to go up the teleferico which takes you to an altitude of 13, 288 feet quite quickly. When you reach the top, you can go for a great hike to the peak of Rucu Pichincha or you can just enjoy the views of Quito.

We all had a briefing at 4pm at our hotel, the JW Marriott, where we met our guides: Osvaldo, our director of operations for South America, who has just flown here from La Paz; and Joaquin, our Ecuadorian guide who shared with us his knowledge about his country and showed us on the map the places where we will explore over the next two weeks.

The team is ready, excited, and full of energy. I have no doubt that we will have many stories to tell over the next two weeks! Tomorrow we will head out early in the morning to start our expedition: an acclimatization hike and climb of Imbabura for the next three days.