The Road Less Traveled By: Part 2

Now...if you can still see the picture of me standing a few miles from the snow-capped volcano, (scroll down a bit perhaps to previous post) notice the number of people you see headed towards the ominous summit. Let me backtrack a bit...I was in Ecuador with about 150 other people for a conference. Towards the end of the week, we began planning a few side excursions in order to experience some of the local attractions. Basically, we had about two days after meetings were over. On the first day, we chartered a couple of buses and visited a few local markets. We drove around Quito, the capital, and then to “el mitad del mundo” (the middle of the world) where you can stand on the equator and have one foot in each hemisphere. These were all the typical tourist places for us to be. But as we were driving around I could see snow-capped mountains...volcanoes even...in the distance. And I was drawn to them. Finally I asked one of the locals who was traveling with us if he had ever hiked up one of the volcanoes. His reply (in Spanish) had the kind of tone you’d hear when someone incredulously replies...well of course not! But he put me in touch with someone else in the group who had been.

So I began to hint around about this potential adventure. Most replied with comments like... “Wow! That would be cool! It sounds dangerous though.” Others just decided there wasn’t enough time or it sounded like too much effort. Then there were others who just flat out said “Oh, you can’t do that! It’s not safe. The leadership wouldn’t approve.” So the more I prodded, the more people nodded...no thanks. Finally, I found three others who were willing to make the trip with me. So early in the morning, we hopped on a bus to downtown Quito in order to catch another bus out of town.

I’ll save the rest of the story for later, but it’s interesting to notice some parallels already. For the past couple of years, I have been busy doing all the expected things and going to the usual places. But occasionally, I would look past the immediate context or task and catch a glimpse of something bigger...something a little ominous yet inviting. In the distance I could see the mountain. I began to talk to other people about the mountain and some would agree that it looked very adventurous and inviting. But few seemed to want to commit to such a journey. The more I toured the same attractions over and over, the more I began to be distracted by the mountain and drawn to its rugged unpredictable terrain. Soon I knew that it was just a matter of time before I left the comfortable climate and landscape for the mysterious mountain and the journey for which I was created. (The picture above this post is a photo I took of Chimborazo, the other major volcano in Ecuador. Chimborazo is a bit higher than Cotopaxi but inactive. So Cotopaxi is said to be the highest active volcano in the world!)