The post where I walk in the Andes mountains for over 25 miles. In the dark.

This post is going way back to the beginning of all the stuff I said I was going to write about.

First, the Caminata from Mira to Ibarra.

Grace and I all fresh at the beginning of the walk.

This is the beginning of the fiestas of Mira, the small town where my host family is from. They do a walk from Ibarra to Mira as part of a penance to the Virgen de la Caridad. It's an over 25 mile walk in the mountains on the Panamericana at night. So, of course I decided I wanted to do it with my host family. On the night of January 30th, at 10 pm, we met up with all the other walkers at a location at the edge of Ibarra. We set out behind a big float with a papermache bull with his horns on pretend fire, and a small version of the Virgen de la Caridad. We cordoned off with ropes behind the float initially so that it was a big mass of about 200 walkers, packed together, walking behind the float and kept to one side of the road. That was ok, but with my gargantuan legs, I kept stepping on the backs of people's feet and I think they were getting angry. This part was nice and leisurely. My host sis, Grace, and I kept singing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz and I taught her the words and the meaning.

After a couple of hours, the crowd started to spread out a lot and a bunch of them went ahead of the float. We were some of the last walkers to pass the float and that put us behind schedule. So by the time we got to the next water stop, we had to SPEED WALK for about one hour. Like serious serious, Jefferson Perez style speed walking (He's Ecuador's only olympic medal winner - for speed walking - and he endorses EVERYTHING). I was stretching those long legs and trying to keep up. This is where it became real work. I didn't realize it before either, but I'm sure speed walking tones your legs so much better than running. My butt! Talk about a pain in the ass! We finally got to the next food and water stop in Mascarilla, which is half way there and in the Valle Chota, (and where most people gave up and took buses). From there, most people were spread out or had left, and the float was no where to be seen. So it was just my host sister, my host brother, Erik, and I walking on the Panamericana. The mountains were there, we were there, tired as hell, and once in a while, so was one of the lights from one of our cell phones. But essentially, we were walking in total darkness on the highway, high in the mountains. There were no guardrails, but you could see the faint outlines of the mountains, so I had no fear of falling off. And we could always see or hear a car before it came. This is the part, where we sang songs, walked silently, and played games. The darkest part of the night. 2 AM - 5 AM. At this point, my feet hurt so bad from all the pressure. And my butt hurt from the speed walking. And I couldn't see where I was walking. But it was nice, to just keep walking. To just keep going.

Exhausted after speed walking. Laying down in Mascarilla.

All alone on the Panamericana. Host sis and bro.

It felt like a long time, but eventually, the sky began to lighten. And we began to hear the sounds of birds and animals. But we still had to keep going. UP the mountain. That's right. Since 2 AM it was all UP the mountain. It was definitely beautiful. The sunrise was gorgeous as well as the view. Finally at 6 AM, we hit La Portada (small small town right outside of Mira) where we were supposed to meet with the other walkers and where La Virgen was supposed to receive us to take us back to Mira. We got there, and a small band was playing and there was warm coffee! Ahhhhhhhh.... we sat down for a bit. Stretched and massaged those sore muscles.

The very beginning of sunrise.

After 30 minutes, we were up again. (OH NO!) This time to walk with the large crowd and to carry la Virgen to Mira. This was a nice walk, uphill again. But very pretty. There were priests, and all sorts of people coming up to help carry la Virgen, which was very heavy. Grace was able to help carry her. When we finally got to Mira, we jumped out of the walk to the Abuelito's house. We showered quickly, ate a quick breakfast, took a much needed dose of Advil, and then passed out till 3 PM. I was definitely the last one to wake up, but my body was so sore, I remember thinking, "why would I want to get out of bed?" Well, the answer to that, is the Novillo.

The last leg of the Caminata. The crowd with la Virgen de la Caridad.