A night at the Iliniza refuge

We shared breakfast with a really interesting French woman in her sixties and her son, they had both climbed Ilimiza Norte the day before and told us about the ascent and much more.

After buying some provisions in the local shop we started our 8 hour walk to the mountain hut. We were settling into our walking after crossing the check point for the Ilimiza's National Park when a German family in a 4x4 offered us a lift to La Virgencita, the spot where climbers leave their cars on their way to the Ilinizas, in the middle of the barren Páramo.

The weather started to close in, fog and rain, the further up we got but the path was so good that it was impossible to get lost. It was hard work walking in soft sandy terrain surrounded by fog. We also felt the altitude and wanted to get there before dard,  so we were thrilled when we turn one corner and there was the refuge. Fredy, the keeper greeted us with hot drinks and we soon settled in this single room space, mostly filled with bunk beds. 

When we put our order for dinner Fredy went off  to the glazier to fetch the trout. The refuge keepers have made a hole in the glazier were they keep all the meat and fish (but not the beer!) . Given how basic it all was, he cooked us a great dinner and here is the proof

Freshly fished trout from the glazier

Im the hut kitchem making drinks for everyone

To start with it was just the two of us the hut but soon we were joined by Lindsay and Rene, a really interesting couple. He was an indigenous activist doing awareness raising work with all indigenous groups in Ecuador around access to safe drinking water, mining policies and land and environmental issues and she was an American student writing her dissertation on indigenous communities and modern methods of communication. I felt really lucky to learn about all these issues first hand. At one point our conversations were interrupted by Fredy because a wolf was near the refuge. That was really exciting, none of us had seen a wolf in the wild! All very good but the toilet was outside and we agreed to go all together before bed just in case. All of us wanted to keep our derrière intact!!

Kept this one big to show you the wolf

Fredy was a great story teller and entertained us until late sitting around the wood burning stove until we were ready for bed. The following day we hoped to climb to 5,100 mt