Day 15 – Returning to Quito

We hopped into our trusty minibus once again to follow the stretch of road that would take us back to Quito.

Setting off in the morning and travelling for a good few hours, we noticed the landscape changing dramatically as we passed it. The forest disappeared as we climbed higher, and many areas had been commandeered for agriculture – even the steepest of slopes. We were keen to spend our last two days in Quito meeting with researchers and an innovative founder to chat about anthropogenic climate change in the area, as well as their current research and exciting projects. 

Once we had arrived in Quito, we didn’t have long at all before our first meeting that afternoon. At the Universidad Católica del Ecuador, we visited Prof. Alden Yépez, whom we had already met briefly on our expedition.  The anthropologist has been studying the area around Chimborazo for a long time. He gave us a warm welcome and spoke at length about his research.

This gave us fresh insight into the region we had explored as part of our glacier research. We spoke a great deal about how the Chimborazo Glacier has changed over the centuries and how this has affected the local people. We can’t wait to welcome Prof. Alden Yépez to Germany to continue our discussions – hopefully next year. 

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