Travel M BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE JULY17, 2011 |BOSTON.COM/TRAVEL
EXPLORE NEW ECUADOR ENGLAND | MAINE Aiming high Climbing Andean peaks, in desolate grassland, amid volcanic plumes — and llamas
BY BRIAN IRWIN | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT PRIVATE COLLECTION
‘‘Captain Upton’s House’’ QUITO — Edgar Ricardo Vaca Vega met his wife (1927), from ‘‘Edward inside a volcano. The year was 1983 and the town of Hopper’s Maine’’ at Baños, the Ecuadorian gateway to the Amazon, was Bowdoin College. M4 abustling climbing destination, with outfitters on every corner touting guided trips up Tungurahua, the purportedly extinct stratovolcano that hovers ov- er the humid town. The summit crater was chosen as the site for a university mountaineering club confer- ence. Patricia Sanchez Alonso, a Colombian studying in Quito was there, as was Vega, a student at a Quito technical school. The couple met in the in- active crater. Five years after the conference they wed, and Vega DAVID LYON FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE has been an outfitter and guide in In all their glorious and the high peaks of the Ecuadorian familiar sizes and fillings, Andes ever since. whoopie pies gain official But the hot spot of their first meeting is gone. In 1999 Tungu- state status. M5 rahua (‘‘Tongue of Fire’’) erupted again, and has not stopped spew- ing volcanic ash since its rebirth. Vega is a friend of a friend and although we were not using his guiding services, we relied on him to provide our transporta- tion, make our local reservations, and cook for us during our two- week climbing expedition in May. SUNDAY RIVER My climbing partner, Conrad Yager, and I were going The author’s Hiking, biking, birding, to attempt to climb three mountains: Illiniza Norte, hiking its sister peak Illiniza Sur, and Ecuador’s fourth high- companion, paddling, ziplining — it’s est volcano, Antisana. Our tour would take us on a Conrad Yager, all among 10 things to do 500-mile, counterclockwise circuit through the cen- for summer fun. M7 ter of the country where we would walk among high looks toward Andean mountains, vast grassy plains, and damp, Antisana’s dense jungle. summit. With Vega is a spry man with only a score of chin whis- kers and chiseled forearms. He climbs hard in the time exposure, mountains. He has summited Antisana, arguably Ec- a headlamp uador’s most difficult peak, around 25 times. He trail streaks drives a 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser that needs a new battery. He always parks facing downhill, routinely across the popping the clutch to start the rusty machine. Vega night sky at DAVID LYON FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE dropped us at the Hostal Charles Darwin, a pleasant Antisana base (AND BELOW) mid-range hotel in a quiet corner of Quito’s New Town. We rested and in the morning set out to find a camp. Hidden Pond ECUADOR, Page M2 cabins offer resort-style amenities, gardens — and s’mores. M4
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SEPT. 2-5 wiches, but there’s something SEPT. 13-18 PLAN AHEAD PINEHURST, N.C. awe-inspiring about cooking BARDSTOWN, Ky. Pinehurst Food & Wine Festi- 5,500 pounds of round roasts in Kentucky Bourbon Festival: SEPT. 29-OCT. 2 val: This wine-oriented fest at an underground pit. The 140- We suspect that each of the six KANSAS CITY, Mo. Pinehurst Resort, often called foot-long, 4-foot-wide pit is filled days of this festival will begin American Royal Barbecue the cradle of American profes- with 30 tons of slab wood with the 2011 official drink: a Contest: The season finale for sional golf, concentrates less on burned down to glowing coals. Bluegrass Sunrise of bourbon the competitive barbecue circuit lauding already-celebrated labels The seasoned and foil-wrapped and orange juice with a dash of is often dubbed the World Series and more on serious wine educa- meat is laid in the pit and the grenadine. Folks in Bardstown of barbecue as more than 500 tion. Festivalgoers can learn the whole thing is buried for 10 claim they have been making teams from across the United ins and outs of the blind tasting hours. By 2:30 p.m. on Labor bourbon since 1776, and that States and Canada battle for the process, for example, explore the Day, the meat is excavated and has been cause for celebration grand champion title here. characteristics of different clones the slicing begins to make those ever since. Sour mash makes for Sauces, seasonings, and (of of a grape variety, or sample the sandwiches. The roast beef sweet times for everything from course) barbecued meat are on new organic wines of South chowdown climaxes a weekend the Bourbon Breakfast to the sale each day. American Royal Africa. Among the guest chefs is of parades, beauty contests, a car free live concerts. Aficionados of Complex, 1701 American Royal Robert Sisca of Boston’s Bistro show, belly dancers, talent the country’s contribution to Court, $13. 816-221-9800, du Midi. Best deals are the pack- shows, and rides and games. PINEHURST FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL international whiskeydom will www.arbbq.com ages of lodging, all meals, and all Garrette Park, admission and A Carolina-grown Biltmore Estate wine draws some samplers enjoy the tastings and mixology PATRICIA HARRIS AND activities. Pinehurst Resort, parking free, Labor Day sand- at the Pinehurst (N.C.) Food & Wine Festival. sessions. Social butterflies can DAVID LYON packages $280 per person per wiches $5.25. 614-879-8818, savor the black-tie dinner and day, events $40-$65. 800-487- www.westjeffoxroast.com all-American take on Slow Food you stock up on seeds for next historical tours. The Great Ken- 4653, www.pinehurstwinefest with a focus on the superior taste year’s garden, visit the nearby tucky Bourbon Tasting & Gala, .com SEPT. 13-15 of heirloom vegetables. Tangy Sonoma vineyards. Proceeds with dinner and dancing, is the Events are sometimes canceled, SANTA ROSA, Calif. tomatoes with old-time flavor benefit school gardens and food climax of the festival. Various rescheduled, or sold out; check SEPT. 3-5 The National Heirloom Exposi- are only the tip of the gastro- programs. Sonoma County Fair- venues, including distilleries in online. Patricia Harris and WEST JEFFERSON, Ohio tion: Billed as ‘‘the World’s Pure nomic iceberg, and organizers grounds, 1350 Bennett Valley surrounding towns, most out- David Lyon can be reached at Annual Ox Roast: It might Food Fair,’’ this initial gathering are promising samples of organ- Road, adults $10, under 18 free. door events free, ticketed events [email protected]. Read seem like an awful lot of trouble of farmers, gardeners, seedsmen, ic heirloom fruits and vegetables 707-509-5171, www.theheirloom $5-$140. 800-638-4877, their food and travel blog at to go to to make roast beef sand- and foodies promises to be an grown all over the country. After expo.com www.kybourbonfestival.com www.hungrytravelers.com. Breathless about 3 peaks, under the spell of 2 volcanoes º ECUADOR Continued from Page M1 higher altitude so we could begin If you go ... to acclimate. Quito is the second highest Where to stay capital in the world. Aside from Hostal Charles Darwin La Paz, Bolivia, it’s the only cap- La Colina 304 y Orellana ital where commercial airline pi- Quito lots have to wear oxygen masks 011-593-2-223-4323 during landing to prevent faint- www.hostalchdarwin.com ing. Instead of blowing air into Quiet, spacious rooms, an the cabin to pressurize it upon open courtyard, and impres- landing, in Quito, they suck air sive breakfasts. Only 15 min- out. utes from the airport, $40 per Above Quito is the extinct Pin- night, and free Internet and chincha volcano, which we vis- ited on a gondola that glides to unlimited free calling to the 13,400 feet. After a breathtaking United States included. ride, we huffed our way into the flanks of his horse and hiked for Hostal Villa Santa Clara adjacent valley. Bright insects two hours up glacial moraine and 12 de Noviembre y V. Ibarra and roaming llamas wandered sandy hillsides to a rustic, brick Baños the hillside while smoke floated hut at 15,200 feet. 011-593-3-274-0349 out of a cement lean-to structure; The Illiniza Refugio is a dank www.hotelvillasantaclara.com inside a family tended a grill of backcountry shelter that sits in a Open, villa-style rooms sur- beef and plantains. After a meal saddle between the two Illinizas. round a courtyard with foun- of knobby corn we headed back This depression was once the tain. Quiet and secure, $10 to the thick, welcoming air of summit of a conjoined volcano. per night. Quito. When it exploded, it left two In the morning Vega took us peaks. One is rocky and suitable Hostal Austria two hours east to the pueblo of El for novice mountaineers. The Tarqui y Diaz de Pineda Chaupi, where our objectives, Il- other is more challenging, with Tena liniza Norte and Illiniza Sur, tow- withering glaciers and overhang- 011-593-6-288-7205 ered over the quiet cobblestone ing ice bands. [email protected] road. An enormous statute of a At sunrise we left for Illiniza A small, family-owned opera- woman milking a cow stands in Norte, the northern, drier peak. tion directly across from Rios the center of town. Gauchos We clambered up pulverized ig- Ecuador and only a block from clicked their way down the neous rock, wound our way be- the footbridge to downtown. streets. We were about to hire tween spiny rock towers and Comfortable rooms with ham- one. across steep scree fields until we Illiniza Sur would be frozen solid Beyond Chaupi the road falls could scramble to the apex. We —we hoped. So we left the hut, mocks and hot water will apart, degrading rapidly into a stood on the crumbling summit. navigating across the rubble- surprise you for $10 per night. braided system of deep mud There a rusty iron cross adorned strewn slopes of Illiniza Sur by Convenient if you are heading channels. Vega grinned as he with prayer flags and memorabil- the cones of light from our head- to Tena, the next town east of drove with one tire in each track. ia framed Illiniza Sur just to the lamps. We swiftly crossed the Baños, to white water raft. Higher up the path he positioned south. mountain’s apron, climbed a gul- What to do one tire in a groove and the other That night I awoke gasping ly of loose rock, and pulled onto Rios Ecuador high on the embankment, toss- for air.I was Cheyne-Stokes the winding glacier of Illiniza Tarqui 230 y Dias de Pineda PHOTOS BY BRIAN IRWIN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE ing the vehicle into a 30-degree breathing, a phenomenon that Sur’s West Face. Our route was Tena lean. He proudly announced that occurs at altitude. The body mis- obvious: Ascend 70-degree snow Llamas on the alpine plateau in Ecuador known as the páramo, 011-593-6-288-6727 he has never flipped a car — but behaves when there is little oxy- and ice, thread two huge crevass- overlooking Quito; the author’s hiking companion, Conrad www.riosecuador.com he knows friends who have. gen to breathe. It responds by es, and summit. We were the first Yager, on Illiniza Norte; and children home from school in the At the road’s end Vega eased driving your respiratory rate up party of the year to attempt Sur. Andean village of Pappallatca. The classic 25-kilometer Class his truck between two árbol de to that of a pant, followed by a We plodded up the steep III float down the Rio Jatunyacu papel, sturdy trees with twisted pause, or apneic period. It feels slopes and approached the sum- more weeks of baking in the We were only the fourth party is world famous and costs $59 branches and paper-thin bark. like someone put a plastic bag ov- mit only to have soft, unsafe equatorial sun and Sur’s snow this year to attempt Antisana. It’s per person. The Tena region is After greeting our gaucho, we er your head in your sleep. snow conditions halt us a few would be the density of frozen aremote, serious mountain sepa- a white-water capital of the loaded our supplies onto the It was 4 a.m. and the snow on hundred feet from the top. Two butter and much less likely to av- rated from civilization by hours continent and is only a couple alanche. That day it was unsafe, a of 4-wheel-drive, cross-country of hours from Baños, so check disappointing reality to which travel. The peak stared over our out other rivers, such as the climbers must submit if they base camp as we quietly sipped Upano. Kayak instruction, want to live to climb again. In the Vega’s tomato bisque with pota- jungle camping, and multiday distance, the conical Cotopaxi toes and fresh trout. We were the float trips are available. :2-& -5 !9#. volcano, Ecuador’s most popular only climbers, the only people, mountaineering objective, tow- within 20 miles. Outfitting Services and ered over the valley. After climbing all night to Mountain Guiding '1,"/& +5,7(0-1"4 %158 Leaving the Illinizas behind, again take advantage of colder, Edgar Ricardo Vaca Vega can )5/-573 62//2*$,/&--/ Vega coasted with us into the qui- firmer, safer snow conditions, I arrange trips of any length and et hamlet of Papallacta, where a climbed up to my friend Conrad’s can tend to any details, from gravel road led us to Hotel vantage point, the apex of a steep cooking to jungle tours, from *2!: 2$2" /5 +'18-)23 Termes de Papallacta, a lush re- ice ramp on the Antisana’s south- climbing expeditions to treks. (262)2 51 /#' (21!00'26 treat of grass-roofed cabanas sur- east face. It was zero degrees and Custom tours like ours average %158 -6)'1 7&,, 44 .4'1 )2"9 rounding courtyards bright with the air was thin at almost 18,000 $800 per person. lilies. Faucets hidden inside feet. The summit block was just cracked terra-cotta pots pumped starting to glow from the rising [email protected] crisp, hot, spring-fed water into a sun. www.edgarguide63.webs.com dozen tiled pools that wind be- Amaze of gaping crevasses tween the cabanas. In the United spread out before us, each one ">C!$#1 2'5:/(< 05/!3'3 ">C!$#1 0<9<(< 05/!3'3 States this resort would cost capped with a thin snow bridge, the road dropped down into the %58: 283189? D4 %58: 283189? D4 $600 a night. In Ecuador, it cost a beyond which a 100-foot-high cloud forest, the pavement fifth of that. wall of overhanging ice led to the steaming from the humidity. As %58: &1))/ 77= I58: &.))/ 77= More impressive than the fine summit. To our left the glacier we descended into the vapor, vis- dining (local trout stuffed with spilled 4,000 feet to the páramo. ibility collapsed. At a bend in the )>C!$#1 05/!3' 18 C8J#'5' +&>C!$#1 0<5!;;'<9 05/!3' mashed casaba), the top-shelf $8 To our right sat a junkyard of road Vega pulled over, shot me a %58: 283189? D4 18 ,<:7> -C!"@