Cerro Golondrias

August 16th - After Ibarra I hoped on a bus and got off at the small town of Guallupe. I went to the Fundacion Golondrias, which is catologing all the plants in the area for names and medicinal properties. The women who runs it also is educating the community about keeping there water clean and not burning down the sides of the mountains to plant but to have sustainable agriculture.She´s a pretty cool women and the program is run with volunteers.
So I had lunch there then got a guide and we spend the night up in the Golondrinas cloud forest. The hike was an hour up hill at a pretty quick pass since we were against the sun setting. Up at the cavins there´s no electricity and it´s wood fire cooking.
The next day we hiked further into the mountains and got to play tarzan on some big vines that were cut just for it. Yup a fat vine you pull up the hill then take off soaring through the trees. And yes I made Tarzan and monkey sounds.
It was incredible to look out onto the mountains and see a shawl of clouds around the tops.
On the way back down we stopped at this beautiful waterfall to take a dip. The water was freezing and great. The water is so fresh up here that you can drink it. Which I hadn´t been used to here.
Of course on the hike back to the foundation it rained but not to bad. I spent the night at the foundation and the next morning was off again.