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| On Top of the World |
On my 23rd birthday. LEGIT. I woke up early, and headed south to Cotopaxi. Two friends--former students--planned the trip specifically for my birthday, and the wife and brother of one of them joined us.
Cotopaxi is in a national park. Foreigners have to pay to get into national parks. Some, such as the Galapagos Islands, are really expensive. There would have been a small fee for me at Cotopaxi, but thanks to my friends, I didn´t pay a cent. We were stretching our legs at the entrance, looking at a map when I heard a ranger ask my friends if I was with them. Without a second thought, the one said "Yes, that´s his wife." And voila! Free entrance. We laughed half the way up the volcano.
For much of the climb, we didn´t see a thing: we literally walked through clouds. The wind was vicious. And without much oxygen to breathe, my heart was pounding. We kept ourselves alive with lollipops and chocolate to provide some sugar and energy. Yum.
After a blustery hour or so, we got to the first refuge and rested a bit, hoping the weather would clear to so we could hike higher to reach the snow. Inside the 40-year old, wooden cabin, we just happened to meet Ivan Vallejo, Ecuador´s most famous climber and one of the world´s foremost, apparently. (Just checked his bio--he´s precisely three years younger than my dad!) He was kind enough to interrupt his lunch, introduce himself to us, and take a photo. Then, after a few more minutes of resting, watching our breath fog up the air, we headed back out to hike farther up and try our luck at seeing the snow and the peak.
We wandered up in the fog, stumbling on the brick red, volcanic stones and hoping to see something more than gray. We found a tiny patch of snow, and I contented myself with throwing a snowball and making a miniature snowman, at about 5 inches tall. We sat for a while longer, just hoping the clouds would blow away.
And, then--the best birthday gift ever--they did!
We got a glimpse that just 200 yards away, there was plenty of snow and then--miracle of miracles--the clouds cleared to reveal a stunning view of the peak! It was amazing.
I was almost too tired to tromp up any higher, but with the glorious snow as motivation, we pressed on. There was a perfect patch, that run down the side of the volcano a ways. We slid down it and I about passed out at the end. Crouching, zooming down snow using your feet for a sled, then abruptly standing up at about 20,000 feet will do that to ya. So awesome.
We made the long trek down, enjoying a view of the valley the entire way. We had a typical meal of hornado--a whole pig that gets chucked in the oven for hours, it´s skin gets crispy and the meat is tender--and finally arrived to Quito. We joked about the freshness of the smog, greeting our nostrils and lungs. At least I can laugh about it sometimes.
That night, I had dinner with friends from the movement. We sang songs, enjoyed gluten-free desserts and plenty of conversation. I was sun and wind burnt but deliriously happy and tired and full. My favorite Italian priest told me my 24th birthday would be celebrated in Florence, no doubt. He has great hopes of me learning Italian and moving there, etc. He has to return to Italy just a month after I leave Quito. He´s been here for twenty-eight years! I´ve realized that I, like him, will be sad to go.
I want to shout that from the top of Cotopaxi. Quito and I have had our rough moments. My stomach is rarely content here, but my heart has been stretched and grown and shown new beauty: friendships from around the world, God´s grace in other languages, Christ in people from cultures quite unlike my own. Our Lady has brought me to her Son time and again.
I´ve been miserable sometimes because of my own worry. When things are out of my control, I´ve got to let them be out of my control. Giving up burdens that aren´t my own is a freeing experience. Life here has often thrown me for a loop, and I´ve reacted by trying to get it all organized under my own power. Ha. As if that would work. There are plenty of real concerns here, but I´ve adopted plenty that have only made life more challenging. A lot of it has to do with time: when is my own time and space going to be available, will all of my time be taken up in transportation, with friends, with being ill, with trying to repair my darn computer, with who knows what? Yeah, maybe it will! Maybe you won´t have anytime to yourself, Juliann. Deal with it. And so, I shall.
Life is our vocation. And my life has me in Quito, Ecuador right now. With the ever-nearing departure looming on this equatorial horizon, I´m ready to enjoy each moment left! Yet another lesson I could have learned sooner. But, this is life, boys and girls.
