First, I'm going to start off with a quick side note- Thursday night I went to the movies. I saw Valentine's Day. I loved it (but for all of you that know me, as in, all of you reading this blog, this fact shouldn't surprise you). However, I'm not mentioning this to let you know how annoying Taylor Swift's character was, how in love I am with Bradley Cooper, how Ashton Kutcher is always incredible or how Julia Roberts just gets more beautiful with age (it's one of those movies that sells because it has a star-studded cast- what can I say? I bought.) What I DO want to mention is how incredible the movie theater was. It was probably the nicest movie theater I have ever been in. The best part was our particular viewing theater. It was HUGE! The screen was at least three times bigger than the screens at home- and I'm saying this without exaggeration. While we were waiting for the movie to start, I actually thought about how many times bigger it could be for the sole purpose of explaining my awe to the folks at home. And the seats! The seats went as far as the eye could see… Okay, this part is a slight exaggeration. But again, it was incredible. Maybe three times as many seats, possibly four.

The more important part of my weekend, however, began on Sunday when my alarm went off at 4:30am. I hopped into a cab 15 minutes later, shortly after that was on a bus with two friends and five Ecuadorians for a three hour ride to Imbabura, an inactive volcano 14,952 feet above sea level. According to Wikipedia, which as we all know, is never wrong:

"Imbabura is a volcano in the Pacific Ring of Fire. As the Nazca Plate is subducted beneath the South American Plate, the former melts with exposure to the hotter asthenosphere. This melted rock, which is less dense than the crust above it, rises to the surface. The result is an arc of volcanoes, which includes Imbabura, 100-300 km away from the subduction zone."

After a quick breakfast with our fellow climbers and a brain-rattling 20 min drive up the unpaved mountain roads, we began our ascent. At first, I admit, I was a bit overconfident. Why were we walking so slowly, I wondered? This was almost boring.

I was not bored for long.

Honestly, I think this climb was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Not just physically, but also mentally (and yes, this does include running the timed-two mile for soccer preseason!) I've had the good fortune to be athletic, relatively healthy and in relatively good shape so far in my life. When I was younger, I always strived to keep up with the boys, to prove that I was just as good. I loved playing soccer in elementary school, as one of the only girls who played and as one of the better players. In gym class, I always loved being able to keep up, being just as athletic and talented as all the boys were. This was where it mattered, anyway: most of the girls didn't view physical prowess as something to be proud of, while the boys did. I've never had to think twice about doing any type of physical activity. My body has never let me down before.

Well, that was then. Part of me feels like I've just gotten lazier- I don't feel that drive, I don't feel that need to be better. I consider it, but then I feel tired and decide it's not worth it. Not a great life attitude, huh?

On this hike, though, it wasn't even just that. The altitude really got to me, which I hadn't expected. It wasn't simply a matter of powering through, like most athletic weaknesses are- I simply did not have the air to go forward. At a few points I really didn't think I would be able to make it up. I was already behind with an older woman and the guide who was required to stay behind everyone, which was embarrassing enough. At this point, we three were already far enough behind the other group that if I wanted to stop, the other two wouldn't be able to finish. I started counting my steps, reaching 100 and then starting over (so that I didn't actually have to comprehend how many steps I was taking). Eventually we reached the part of the mountain which required clambering over rocks and scaling almost sheer rock faces, which I enjoyed much more. This was less difficult cardiovascularly (which Microsoft Word is currently telling me isn't a word- you know what, Microsoft? It should be!), so I didn't have as much trouble breathing, and it was much more distracting than simply putting one foot in front of the other. From that point on, I was golden. (Although I really do still prefer silver things to gold- I guess personally, it would be more appropriate to say 'I was silver.' But then you probably wouldn't understand what I meant.) And we were lucky enough that the clouds cleared away on the descent, gracing us with an absolutely incredible view and breathtaking view, a view that ALMOST made the suffering worth it.

Conclusion: Eight total hours of hiking, two disgusting heel-blisters, one over-tired and under-fed body and multiple sore muscles later, I am glad I did it. And I might just be crazy enough to try it again.