cajas

imagine the wind whipping your face at fifty miles per hour as it scours the practically barren landscape.
well that is not exactly how it was but it could have been.
not far outside the throbbing cuenca, is one of the most beautiful parks i have ever been in - cajas national park. 4450 meters above sea level is at its peaks where it is mostly tundra. but about 270 lakes are scattered about the large park and the vegitation is breathtaking. from the delicate flowers to the hardened cactus like plants, the land, apparently devode of life, is teeming with life.
if this was not enthralling enough, you step from the wind-whipped highlands into dense forest with serpentine limbs and a lush verdant floor. itfeels as though it is made for a horror movie. but it has a particular beauty to it.
once you make it out of the forest (if you ever do) you can go travel further down in elevation until you reach the cloud forest which is the equivelant of a rain forest at high elevation. this forest has birds of every color.
if i can ever return to ecuador, i would really like to spend many days in the park. you can camp whereever you want but the weather is extremely erratic and temperatures drop precipitiously at night.
an adventure for the future...