Tour name: Chimborazo National Park
Degree of difficulty: Easy mountain paths
Tour length: 115 km
Total elevation: 2800 m ascent and 2870 m descent
Alignment: North-East
Highest point: 4300 m
GPS: route and track as GPX

My pulse is racing as I snap for air. Every inch of my body hurts. We are at 4308 m above sea level. I have never been at such an altitude before! We stop hiking and taking a break. My pulse calms down and I am able to take a deep breath. The nature around us is stunning, even if there are not many plants growing on the barren, grey soil. From time to time wild lamas are passing by, gazing at us in wonder. So now, after this perfect description, guess where we are. Of course, it is Ecuador. More precisely: the Andes. Even more precisely: the Chimborazo National Park. The Chimborazo is a currently inactive volcano and with a peak elevation of 6263 m, it is the highest mountain in Ecuador. It looks quite majestic with its snow-covered summit. For us, it is okay to admire the mountain from below. We do not have time to climb up to the top… Of course it is not about the height…

Okay. Let is better talk about what we are actually doing here in Ecuador. We are hiking from Guaranda to Ambato. We picked these cities, because of their bus connections to Guayaquil, from where we are taking our flights. And because of the beautiful landscape that is located between the two cities.
It is a 115 km distance with 4830 m up and down. The plan is to do the trip in 7 days.
For both of us, it is the first time trekking in the Andes. We both do not speak any Spanish than: “Hola chica!” Which surprisingly did not help that much…