6-26-2012: Today was another day of intense trekking through the difficult terrain across the Eastern Andes of Ecuador! We continued down towards Sumacko National park, it is still very cold! I was hoping it would warm up as we decreased elevation, but I guess we are not down far enough yet. We continued walking until about 17:00, when we finally found a flat area where we were able to make camp!
6-27-2012: Today was a very hard day! First of all we are out of dry clothing, I am sleeping in some wet clothes from a few days ago, Matt is in a t-shirt, some of the others are naked or in wet clothes. It is reaching the low 30's at night. We are not only suffering from the cold durring the day but we are really being hurt by it at night! It is really draining our energy to not sleep and still walk 10 hours a day. Our other soaked clothes have been ripped from the vegetation and are useless in protecting us from the cold or dense thorns. I knew the indigenous were getting worn out but I had no idea just how much, but before I get to that let me tell you about today: We continued our trek towards Sumacko Volcanoe. The vegetation seems to be getting even denser as we continue to go down in elevation. We have to hack our way through every inch with a machete since we are the first people to travel in this unexplored terrain, there are no trails or walkways. Just thick undergrowth with lots of mud and moss. The tree canopy in so thick that our communication devices are not penetrating through to the sattelites. I do not believe anyone can see where we are or knows if we are ok. It is very hard to navigate our way through especially with our big and heavy packs on. We spend alot of our time on our hands and knees crawling under fallen trees or dense clumps of bamboo. From doing so we are covered from head to toe in mud!
So to do a little re-cap: we are cold, wet, and covered in mud. We also are covered in scrapes and cuts from all the dense vegetation! Our hands are shredded, I also have several cuts on my face. The terrain is so extreme and the vegetation are so thick that it is very hard to walk through it all. Today I fell in between one of the falling trees and really banged my ribs when I caught myself! It was extremely painful! I hope it does not effect my sleep as I need all the rest I can get. A few hours later I had to jump from one fallen tree to another and upon landing I slipped and got hung up on a branch which made me twist my ankle as well. I am very lucky I did not break my leg! As there is no chance for rescue out here!
Today we also had to climb up a very steep gorge face to get around a very dense and unsecure group of fallen trees. The gorge face was slippery mossy rock! Very hard to climb, I made it up without being able to secure myself to a safety rope. It was so painful to climb the rock face! I had to dig my sliced up fingers into every groove and nook possible trying to make sure I dont fall deep down to my death. It became obvious it was too dangerous for everyone else to climb this way. I managed to secure my rope around a tree and had the rest of the team climb up the face safely. I dont want anyone dying on my expedition! We continued on through the maze of fallen trees and dense vegetation until about 15:00. At this time Delfin stopped me and the group and said that he could not cintinue any further, I was shocked that he would be the first one to quit! Once he spoke up the rest of the indigenous joined in and said they want to quit as well. They said they have had enough of the cold temperatures, constant rain, harsh terrain, and lack of food. It has been almost 8 days since we have eaten anything substancial. We have only had a few crackers here and there. They were very sorry that they could not continue and kept apologizing. I told them I understand that they are from the tropical Jungle and not made for this constantly cold climate. I tried to explain that we have made it across the Eastern Andes and that all that we have left are the foothills of the Sumacko Volcanoe. They said that they have simply had enough. One of the indigenous videographers, Nixon, has severly injured his ankle and has drastically slowed down. He yelps or screams with each step he takes since the pain is so sharp and severe! Another one of the indigenous, Norma, has a sever fever, and it seems to be getting worse daily. She is constantly shaking and complaining during the walking. She has the chills durring the day and is violently shivering durring the night! They all have lost alot of mental focus and do not seem to be thinking clearly anymore, they are taking sensless risks and have almost slipped down into several gorges. The tough conditions are really eating into their minds. I decided therfore to support them. It was the right time and situation for an evacuation of the injureds. I would continue for the next several days on my own without my support team, the indiginous of the tropical Amazon. I will have to weigth carefuly Matt's ability to join me on that strech. He will not give up and will insist to continue. I know that. but can he? I have enough water and know I can survive without food for at least two weeks. I have given all the electronics to the indigenous to take back since I will need to be fast and light! and, I am taking Matt with me. Crossing such strech all alone is not wise. We now need to make it out of this maze as fast as possible to get some real food in our stomachs! We would meet up with the indigenous again when we reach the foothills of the Sumacko Volcanoe. There the weather should be much warmer and there will be an abundance of food to hunt for. Food I believe is the main problem, there is no wildlife here other than mosquitos and other inscects! We dont even hear birds chirping ever! The conditions are so tough and unbareable nothing wants to live here. So tomorrow morning the indigenous are going to follow the trail we have hacked the past days back until they reach civilization and medical help for the injured. Once there and recovered, we've agreed, the inland support team will pick them up and transport them to my intended destination point of Sumacko Volcanoe foothill. Will they show up?
