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By noon I left Baños (1800m) to Riobamba(2800m). At 2 o’clock I got in town and arranged a tour to see the volcano Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador. They say it is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. This time there was a Dutch couple, a guide, a driver and me. My expectations were very low since the day was cloudy and I had stayed a week in Baños trying to see the top of Tungurahua, what I couldn’t because of the clouds.
As we begin to go up, the sky seamed to clear. We started to see a little of the mountain, sudently it was there, the white top of Chimborazo. It was beautiful, as if we had gone higher than the clouds, as if we were looking from the top. The happiness was general, the Dutch couple was also frustrated for not being able to see the Tungurahua. On the way to the refuge we saw some llamas and vicuñas.
At 4:30 we got to the refuge (4800m) and started the walk to the second reguge (5000m). This time we went up with a guide and we walked in zigzag to get used to the altitude. It was very cold but sunny. I got tired easily and stopped every 20 steps, but it was a lot easier than Cotopaxi. The ground was harder and not so slippery.
When I got to the refuge I felt good, now I was better used to the altitude. I went up more than 3000m in less then 5 hours and I felt good. The way down was easy, we had to go fast because it was getting dark and foggy.
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