This past Thursday we set out on our Year 12 Biology/Geography field trip in the morning, arrived at the park, and were postponed from entering because the park worker demanded cédulas from each students,
which they hadn’t brought! After much discussion it worked out fine, agreeing to only charge them the nacionales rate ($2) and making only me pay the $10 extranjera rate. The next alteration we encountered was the museum being closed due to rennovations.
It wasn’t actually closed as much as it was empty/demolished inside. So John ad-libbed a bit and talked about ecology until time for lunch. We then drove to the lodge Tambopaxi where we’d be staying before heading to la Laguna Limpiopungo.
There we learned from Peter (geography teacher) the techniques to perform transects. Along our walk we also found an impressive number of easily identifiable bones and dissected animal pellets! We returned to the lodge, split up and hiked around for an hour before dinner.
Some of the students desperately wanted a cell phone signal, so I hiked up the mountain with them futilely. Peter went a different way and went further, eventually finding a post that gave service, but right as we were heading in it began to rain and then hail. I must say that we were exceptionally lucky with the weather this day. We were all prepped for rain and cold and wind,
and it was just cold enough to need my coat (granted, many were just fine in sweatshirts). Plus, we could see about half the volcán Cotopaxi through the clouds, a rarity most days. Dinner was great, but way too much, and the head of the lodge shut off the generator at 8:15, so I went to bed and the students stayed up until their 10:00 curfew. Turns out I didn’t sleep at all, and I do mean none, due to my crazy fast heart palpitations and breathing rate that I couldn’t slow down for anything. I really felt every one of the 3750 meters of altitude in my chest, but luckily no one got more seriously sick from the altitude.
This past Thursday we set out on our Year 12 Biology/Geography field trip in the morning, arrived at the park, and were postponed from entering because the park worker demanded cédulas from each students, 
which they hadn’t brought! After much discussion it worked out fine, agreeing to only charge them the nacionales rate ($2) and making only me pay the $10 extranjera rate. The next alteration we encountered was the museum being closed due to rennovations. 
It wasn’t actually closed as much as it was empty/demolished inside. So John ad-libbed a bit and talked about ecology until time for lunch. We then drove to the lodge Tambopaxi where we’d be staying before heading to la Laguna Limpiopungo.
There we learned from Peter (geography teacher) the techniques to perform transects. Along our walk we also found an impressive number of easily identifiable bones and dissected animal pellets! We returned to the lodge, split up and hiked around for an hour before dinner. 
Some of the students desperately wanted a cell phone signal, so I hiked up the mountain with them futilely. Peter went a different way and went further, eventually finding a post that gave service, but right as we were heading in it began to rain and then hail. I must say that we were exceptionally lucky with the weather this day. We were all prepped for rain and cold and wind, 
and it was just cold enough to need my coat (granted, many were just fine in sweatshirts). Plus, we could see about half the volcán Cotopaxi through the clouds, a rarity most days. Dinner was great, but way too much, and the head of the lodge shut off the generator at 8:15, so I went to bed and the students stayed up until their 10:00 curfew. Turns out I didn’t sleep at all, and I do mean none, due to my crazy fast heart palpitations and breathing rate that I couldn’t slow down for anything. I really felt every one of the 3750 meters of altitude in my chest, but luckily no one got more seriously sick from the altitude.
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