Brent Richards Blog Update

By Athletic Communications on February 21, 2011 1:39 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Ho man, I was really busy last week and I didn't have time to write a blog entry so this one should be a little longer. I'll start from where I left off I suppose...

Two weeks ago I wasn't really sure what to do over the weekend but I heard that some of my friends were going to be going to a nearby mountain, Cotopaxi and I was interested in that. On Friday my friend, Danny, went and checked out some climbing agencies around town and found that for a trip with a guía (guide) it costs $160. We were a little shocked that it cost that much but soon discovered that that was actually a pretty good deal because usually those trips cost from $180-250 and it included almost all the equipment and meals as well. I wasn't planning on spending that much money because all the weekends before that I'd been spending about $100 consistently and needed to cut back. Eventually I decided to do it though because my main man, Alex, who studied abroad in Italy last year told me that some things are spendy but really are worth it in the end. I figured this was one of those things that would cost a lot but I'd be happy I did in the end.

I decided Friday night that I'd do it the next day so Danny gave me the packing list of 2 socks, 2 pants (not jeans), long underwear (which I brought thankfully), short and long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, stocking cap, gloves, 2 liters of water at least, snacks, 3 triple A batteries, and a backpack. We were told to have a good dinner that night and hydrate a lot and get good rest so I ended up getting to bed at 10 that night to meet at the climbing office (Yanasacha: means Black Mountain/Jungle in the Quichua language which is native to the Andean Region) which was a short walk from my house.