ECUADOR

Green sided mountains with rock tipped teeth, unevenly edging into a blue sky.

Short women in tilted black Fedoras, colored shawls and long skirts, walk with a swish.

They are so young, his black hair carefully brushed back, hers tied back with a pink ribbon, walking arm in arm, on the narrow sidewalk, holding a cocooned, pink blanket between them.

A constant staccato of car horns and hunched over drivers in dented cars, racing through the traffic.

Look up at two men in puffy, hooded jackets preaching to the clouds, on the single file line to the summit of Ruchu  Pinchu.

Liam, wavering in pieces of fog and blue sky, unfurling the Irish flag at the summit.

Herds of stray dogs trotting, circling the stopped car.

Road side miles of white gray, cement blocs with two open windows and a wood carved door. 

Brown earth, garden strips with straight rows, bundled people bent over tiny green plants.

Quinto's aluminum crowned Madonna with her shiny, opened wings. 

The bubbling, yellow sulphur rock at the bottom of dark blue Quinatoa Lake.

White sand, feet sinking trail, curling around cliffs to see
a river  of people trudging, taking pictures, standing on the side as tired horses, burros panting to a stop and start, haul people up.

Bent over people hurrying through the cold pouring, balls of ice, pulling a shaking horse. One staked out to be beaten by hail. Poor animals! 

Cayumbe refugios' dark wood panels, cement floors against gray rock.
An hour of the strained quiet of preparing to climb.
In the yellow light, night blackening the windows, watching the guides, coiled ropes around fleece covered arms, checking  headlamps, ropes and packs.
The slippery steep up to see the glacier’s white shoulders.

Climbing up, up and down Chimborazo’s windy, smooth sides
Resting against Chimborazo's bulk; a boulder backrest for a red and yellow sunrise.

A quiet dinner of french fries, beer and disappointment on a balcony.

Hotel Volcano's whimsical modern art lobby, grass sided pool and view of the noiseless waterfall;  lost in a rush of relief and rest.
Patient old woman in black pants holds the hand of tottering, trying out walking, as he tries and fails, tries and fails and tries. They are laughing.