Everest v. Chimborazo- which is highest?

 I left Banos and traveled by bus to Riobamba, the city which is the jumping off point for hiking in the Chimborazo NP.  I booked a room in an old mansion in city as everything here is cheap-

 Chimborazo is the highest moutain/volcan in Ecuador at a little under 6300 meters and it claims highest mountain honors.  It seems the earth bulges out a bit at the equator- and most of Ecuador is quite close to the E- and so the peak of Chimborazo is actually closer to the sun and further from the center of the earth than any place on earth.  Given that I climbed over 5100 meters on Chimborazo and have never gone near Everest, I am fine with Chimb claiming top honors as I have now likely passed all those foolish Everest climbers.  

In any case, I got to Riobamba at about 11am and immediately asked the hotel to arrange a tour to Chimborazo that afternoon as time was tight.  Well, no tours were evidently available for some reason, so I promptly said to the hotel "Get me a driver!  It is Chimborazo or bust!"

Well, a driver and pick up truck were promptly procured and we set off for Chimborazo about 1.5 hours away.  As usual, the weather was overcast and so I was not too optimistic about seeing the peak, but wanted to give it a try in any case.  The landscape surrounding the mountain is pretty stark and it is a cold, windy and somewhat forbidden place-

I started my relatively short hike (about 2 hours r/t) with the mountain covered in clouds.  It was tough hiking given the elevation and my limited acclimatization.  If fact, I was somewhat dizzy almost the entire climb, though my old hiking friend Craze might note that is not really noteworthy.  But as I approached this tiny laguna at my destination of 5100 meters, LO!, the clouds cleared and the massive volcano revealed its stunning self-

The laguna also came with a snowman-

When the clouds cleared, that was definitely a 'wow' moment.  It is impossible to convey by pictures how massive and tall this mountain appeared.  

On the way back, we saw some of the vacunas who populate the area-

The return journey took us through some of the prettiest farmland I have ever seen, though I had difficulty capturing it by camera-

The driver was a talkative fellow, but he spoke no Anglais and he seemed to have some difficulty understanding my espanol-accented English for some reason.  In any case, at one point along the way, we picked up this older Indian woman who was hitch-hiking and he then conversed with her like they were old friends..  I think he just wanted someone to talk to.  I added little to the conversation.  

Finally, we passed by this church which appeared to be roughly modeled on the Sydney Opera house for some reason-

Now for a six hour bus ride to Cuenca.   But one last hard earned photo of Chimbarzo-

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