Illiniza Norte, 5100-and-something above sea level

This weekend me and Rachel hiked/climbed Illiniza Norte, a mountain about 2 hours north from Quito. The first day we had a nice little warm up to prepare our final hike. Beautiful day where Ecuador displayed some scenic beauty. Some animals from that trip; a horse to the right (!) and an alpaca in the middle (why have a sheep when you can have an alpaca?) and some cows to the left

Sunday we got up at about 4.30 and started our hike. Illiniza Norte is not very difficult to hike/climb but the altitude has its effects and above 4000 meters I felt like an 80 year old with KOLS. However we made it in the end and had the pleasure to have a snack 5100 meters above sea level. The weather was not as it was the day before and we pretty much did not see anything, but it was beautiful anyway and the snow in the air made it hard to believe that we were not that many kilometers from the equator line. (By the way, did you know that Ecuadorian mountains are further from the earth center than mountains in the Himalayas due to the ecuator buldge?). This last picture is Rachel, Marco and me on the top