paramo

2-1-09
This weekend we ventured to 15,000 feet to learn about the páramo, or tropical tundra. Tundra is one of my favorite landscapes mainly because I love mountains and glaciers. On our way up the mountain we stopped at a polylepis forest. Polylepis is the only tree that can survive above the tree line in the elfin forest. The trees are short and the branches are mangled creating very nice protection from the wind and keeping the interior of the forest a few degrees warmer. These forests are thousands of years old and absolutely beautiful, it is an ecosystem that is so specifically modified to its environment and is unfortunately decreasing rapidly as people move above the tree line to raise cattle and sheep and cut it down because it is the only tree up there to use as firewood and building material. By the time we reached 15,000 feet it was very cold and foggy. Luckily we were all mostly prepared for such weather even though we were hoping for a nice sunny day. We started out by following our teachers around as they told us the names of plants and pointed out key adaptive features for surviving in such a harsh environment. After that they sent us off to collect some data then we heading down to eat lunch. After lunch it started to clear up a little but remained cold and windy. Then we all dispersed in different directions to collect data about the diversity of species on the mountain. At the end of the day we headed to a natural hot spring, something we were all especially looking forward to after the cold day in the field. The hot spring was a perfect end to the cold day. It was right next to a stream and one of the pools conveniently had easy access to a calm part of the stream. The challenge was to stay in the cold stream for 7 seconds submerged to your neck before jumping back in the hot spring. About 10 of us did it while the others watched in pain. It was pretty much like jumping in the Wisconsin snow out of a hot tub; you know that the warm water is so close and that the pain of the cold water will be short lived. We headed back to Quito all warm and sleepy. On Saturday we heading up another mountain to compare and contrast the plant life. This mountain has converted into mainly pasture, while yesterday we were in a preserved area. We did get very luck and see an Andean Condor, an endangered species, along with some other pretty cool birds. We took our data of diversity and had lunch at a lagoon nearby. The lagoon is one of the major sources for Quito’s drinking water and has a wonderful view of the adjacent Antisana Mountain. Antisana peaks at about 21,000 feet and covered by a large glacier. Luckily right around lunch the clouds cleared enough to get a spectacular view. Soon we headed back down and made plans to go the mariscal to celebrate John’s 21st birthday. A lot of us have our 21st are here and it is a little anticlimactic since the drinking age is 18 and loosely enforced. But we celebrated at a Tapas bar and I ended up meeting some people from Argentina and spent the rest of the night trying my best to understand Spanish, thankfully the Argentinean accent is fairly easy and I had 2 Spanish teachers with the same accent. Spending time with them just made me want to go to Argentina even more. Ever since I found out I got into this program I have said if I have any money by the end I am going to Argentina, unfortunately without a cell phone here I will probably never see my new Argentinean friends again even if I do go down there. The next morning I woke up with the horrible realization that I had slept in my contacts, and as I was taking them out I think I scratched my eye. So I have hspent the whole day with my eye swollen and watering profusely. And instead of going out to watch the Superbowl I am stuck at home writing this blog and making a lot of typos due to my right eye being completely blurry (thank god for spell check.)
Update: I woke up the next morning and my eye felt 100 percent better and I edited this blog, there were some kind of funny mistsakes. Also, i posted pictures on shutterfly from the paramo. (see link below)