Introduction
November 2003
My second backpacking trip was up the mountain at the base of which Justin lived -- Volcan Cotacachi, actually an active volcano. The weather wasn't the best, so we didn't summit for the spectacular views, but the flora made the trip well worth the effort of climbing up steep grades on undeveloped tracks. On the way up it was mostly tall grass, the odd flower here and there (all of which are described as "paramo"), but past a certain altitude it was like looking at the ocean floor -- the plants all looked like different types of coral. Once I adjusted to altitude and got a bit of complaining about the cold out of the way, I really enjoyed pretending to be hard core!
