My time here in Ecuador has been building up to this moment for me. I am so beeping grateful for what my time here has taught me and for everyone in my life.

Before the hike, everyone at the Instituto Geofísico (IG) was warning me “get your fitness up before Reventador”.  I always thought, it’s only 3.562 meters-the stratovolcano in Flagstaff is higher than that! How hard could it be? Regardless, I began training my second week in Ecuador for Reventador, because if every person I came across at the IG told me to, it must’ve been for good reason.

The last week of March came and it was finally time to go up Reventador. I accompanied four geophysicists and me the only volcanologist (WELLLL junior volcanologist). Also side note, I am so grateful for Liz. She has so much trust in me for some crazy reason, to send me up there to collect all the samples on my own. So I made sure to do a good job. Anyways, back to the story.

Our trip began Monday afternoon-we drove down to the hostel that is situated about 20 or so km from Reventador’s base camp located in its old Caldera.

The drive was 100km from Quito and  gorgeous. Road side views were filled with lush green brush topping mountains, cows, people, waterfalls, hot springs, massive cliffs, and a whole lot of curvy roads.

We arrived at the hostel and unpacked all of the geophysicist’s gear. These guys had to each carry 55 pound batteries on their backs…plus sleeping gear, clothes, and food!! I carried my sleeping gear, food, and the materials for ash collection…so my pack was heavy, but gee there was no comparison. The weight of our packs alone would have made any hike tough…so I started to worry a bit as everyone had said the hike is difficult in itself!

We set off at about 5am the next day with our stomach’s filled by an Amazonian breakfast. This is beans, potatoes, yuka, chicken, bread, rice, cheese, coffee, and juice. We weren’t hungry until we arrived to camp!

The trek was tough, but honestly my childhood dream. We hiked through jungle, mud up to our knees at some points, and rivers. We took periodic breaks to rest from all of the weight we were carrying. At one point, three guys fell behind when it began to rain-so Marco, one of the geophysicists, and I hiked on and made it to camp so Marco could empty his backpack and head back to take some of the weight off of the other guys (take a los off Fanny?).

While Marco headed back, I boiled some water to start up lunch when everyone got back. I was met by wooden TP styled tents and Reventador claiming its land about 8km away in the horizon.

When the others arrived we had lunch-tuna, tomatoes, rice, and beans. We were eating good!!

Myself and Marco were sent off to a station after lunch. We hadn’t brought a machete with us and there was basically no trail left after wild amazonian jungle had eaten it. So we were kind of climbing our way to the station-thankfully I was dressed in long waterproof pants and a long shirt, so not too much damage was done by the rough vegetation to my skin.

Then, I heard what sounded like a jet plane. I thought to myself…no way there are planes out here, not with all this ash! I looked up at Reventador and it was erupting. It was my first time seeing an eruption. I stopped in my tracks, my partner understood why and did not even question it.

We marveled at Reventador that was spewing an ash column from one of its craters. I cried due to how overwhelming the experience was. I was in Ecuador, on an active volcano, in the jungle, watching the volcano I was assigned research on erupt. I couldn’t believe that it was real life. But, I also realized that I want to do this for the rest of my life.

We continued to the station, I collected ash and my partner did some seismic work. Then, we headed back.

The ash collection consisted of me cleaning out this cenizametro (ash machine is the best translation I can think of, sorry!!). I cleaned it with a paint brush, replaced the soda pop bottle that is put into the center, with a fresh one, and placed all the ash into a bag to be taken back, dried, washed, and sieved before being look at!

It was getting dark out, but then all of a sudden the sky was illuminated by lava from a Strombolian eruption coming from Reventador and an endless skyscrape of stars and the milky way.

When we returned to camp, dinner was ready and we ate! Then, we all went to our sleeping bags and fell asleep quite easily after such a day!

The next morning, we were awoken by the jet plane sound again-Reventador was being moody again. We watched in awe, had breakfast and then got ready for our day in the field.

This day, I was assigned to work with Duey, another geophysicist. This time we headed to the station where the ash I have been investigating has been coming from for the past 5 years.

We hiked down through jungle until we made it to the station. This was another amazing moment because I now understood what all the scientists before me endured to collect the ash I have been looking at. Boy, do I respect what I am looking at so much more!

It was also amazing, because everything came into perspective for me. I understood how the ash was traveling to get to the station. I could see just how powerful Reventador is and how its pyroclastic flows shape the surrounding area.

Although I managed 5 bee stings, nothing could ruin this experience for me. I was able to rest and finally get a video!! Here it is :).

We finished up our work and headed back to camp for our last night…knowing we had to hike all the way back down the next morning!

The hike down the next morning went by so much quicker because our bags were so much lighter, even though I added ash to my bag, there was no more food in there…phew!

Our last few steps left, “Eye of the Tiger” was cued and we laughed and felt so accomplished that we had just made it out of the jungle and had gotten some good work done.

This captured instant was a dream come true and I am so grateful to have been able to had this opportunity!!!! I will never take it for granted and will always remember my first experience on an active volcano as I continue my career!