VAN LIFE AT HIGH ALTITUDES [Did We Go Too High] S5E20

so we're leaving this amazing authentic little  mountain town up here by this crater lake   if you missed this you want to go check out our  last video this is the coolest little indigenous   community but it's about 12 000 feet above sea  level and we're ready to head down we think we've   found somewhere a little bit lower where we can  do a little hiking and maybe find some waterfalls   snow can't handle the cold she can't handle  the cold it's been cold guys so here we go i gotta tell you ecuador is absolutely time and  time again winning my heart over and as we kind of   leave this crater and head to the next adventure  we're going through these farmlands and it's just   indigenous country and you just see these little  modest humble homes and you look up the hill   and you see the farms where they're growing corn  and other stuff and they're doing it all by hand   and a lot of like the corn they grow and things  like that is to feed the llamas the sheep the   alpacas the chickens the pigs and all that  stuff is used for the community so they can   make their own clothes they grow their own food  and it's just really fascinating and beautiful   and not to mention aesthetically beautiful  how this little region of ecuador is   for those of you that do not know in  our van we use a composting toilet   now back in the united states it's pretty  easy to find the cocoa fibers or all kinds of   stuff that people use in their toilets down  here what we've learned is we use sawdust   and it works really good but we're almost out  so we just saw a little wood mill on the side   of the road and we were hoping to stock up on  some sawdust but nobody answered nobody was home   so that is an important errand that  we need to take care of right curt   yeah it is we are in our priority list we  are looking for a sawmill or a cabinet shop   and we usually can get a big garbage bag  full of it for just a couple of dollars   so important errand to be done kind of bummed  out nobody was there that was an easy place   i know we show you all the time our driving  through the mountains but it just never ever   disappoints right now we're coming down in  elevation and we're above the clouds and   we're about to go through them to get to a lower  elevation waterfalls just popping out of the side   of these mountains the flowers that grow on the  side of the road change as you drop in elevation   it's always just really really stunning and we  keep saying well let's just not do any driving   in this video we do so much of the driving  but the driving is so much of our journey so   we're just gonna keep sharing it with you  because it's beautiful and it's interesting   and these andes mountains are amazing for the  past 10 minutes or so we are definitely coming   down down down and we are coming through an area  where just every couple of hundred feet there is a   mudslide that has happened a few of them have been  really bad this one was huge this is an actual   river crossing yeah this is a this was a biggie  but they're every 500 feet there's been a mudslide this always scares me i'll be happy  when we get out of the mudslide zone   it's gonna be a while comes the plantain truck  we've seen a few times when we're sitting in a   restaurant these guys drive through town fairly  slow blowing their horn so if the little local   restaurant owner needs some plantains he just  comes out and buys them right off the truck so we've seen some news reports on our facebook  group for ecuador of areas of the past month that   um real bad flooding towns washed away you  know we saw pictures on the facebook group   coming through this town i think we're seeing the  real live effects of what a raging river can do   this whole town i'm pretty sure this is the  articles we were reading this town got devastated we were about out of water but right here  on the side of the road literally we're   parked in the middle of the road we can buy  little five gallon bottles and pour it in   it's nice to be back somewhere where  we can breathe again this is true   we're full of diesel we're full of water   now we got to get our bellies full  found a roadside restaurant let's go eat   all right she's fixing up kurt's plate here's  my plate we still aren't quite sure what this is   clearly that's rice and i got chicken it's  actually kind of like a stocking i think   it's probably made with plants yeah i do too  what'd you get i got the red cardo i got chicken all right so we got a new juice to try mara this is the same drink i had the other  day it's like pear it's like an orange   beer oh look there it is right oh that  thing there that is what it is thank you all right i'm gonna try mine oh that's good that's really good  kurt's right it's kind of like a pear   yeah and we get to take one with us our lunch  those two giant plates of food some fresh   squeezed juice curd got an extra order of meat  to go with his six dollars not a bad hunker uh   fresh juice as well and we got that little juice  fruit i can't pronounce it i've already forgot it   moro something annie leave it in the comments yeah  look they have red bananas if you guys have been   watching you know i love these little tiny bananas  snow's gonna stop in here see cuatro cuatro rojo juan pina sure if you want one so we got a big bag of bananas half little  tiny yellow bananas which are super yummy   and one of kurt's favorites and they have red  bananas here so we're gonna try red bananas   and a pena how much was all that two dollars two  dollars for two big bunches of bananas and a pena   kirk can't wait we just had a big giant meal  but these bananas are red i've never even   seen a red banana so i gotta try it i'm  gonna break the little top off of there they taste just like a yellow banana but they're  red where we're at now we are on the west   side of the andes getting closer to the coast and  i think we could tell that because we just passed   a pickup truck delivering what looked like  fish that was caught this morning big fish   tuna yeah so we are close to the coast but  we're not going there yet we got a waterfall   in the jungle that's where we're going first  all right we have made it to our campsite   we're right off the main road actually  but we don't have to worry about hearing   traffic noise because wait till you see what we're  parked by wait for it there it is we're parked   right in front of a waterfall guys and that's  the baby one up those stairs there's a big one go check it out i told y'all it was a  little one and a big one in the back   i think we can get closer to  it but it's raining right now so we will wait but we will get up there   you all know how much we like monkeys we found  one the rain will not stop so we're gonna brave it   putting on some raincoat so we're  gonna see if we can get up there let's go whenever the sunny days and whatever the weather we have each  other and that's how the story will end when it's cold and whatever the season well   we'll keep on breathing cause  we'll have each other to hold i want to   i wanna spend my forever forever like that   well i'll be the words on the pages  if you've been my sweet melody and the tomb can keep changing the love i'll  keep arranging and this is a song that will sing   we made it up to the viewing point and  back without getting too terribly wet   kurt's hanging up our rain jackets the  kitties don't even know we came back   now we're in for the evening because it's  still raining so the cost to stay here was   three dollars a piece it's normally a dollar fifty  just to enter the cascada they charge us another   dollar fifty to stay overnight so total six  dollars there is bathrooms and showers over here   however the water that feeds both the toilets  and the showers comes directly from this river   and so you can see this water is brown so is  the water in the toilet and so is the water in   the shower but it's a cool little stop just right  on the side of the road hard to believe you can't   hear these big buses were by when you're tucked  up in here but you can't but anyway a nice place   for a good adventure vana is on the dash curt is  at the wheel that was a nice peaceful campsite we   drove about an hour out of the way to be able to  camp right by that waterfall and it was worth it   we have to do some backtracking today but we  are headed to a really really really tall place we got a lot of climbing to do gabe today guys  yeah it's about a five hour drive and we need   to stop at a grocery store and we're still  looking for sawdust for our composting toilet   and that's becoming very very important we  saw a sawmill right on the side of the road   here in the middle of the mountains and it's  a success look at this big bag of sawdust that's a lot of composting toilets it's wet oh  it's wet so we got to figure out how to let it dry   but later we'll let it dry and we  will put it into smaller ziploc bags   store it in the trunk how much was  that curdy one dollar one dollar all right one chore done all right it was time  to make a visit to the big grocery store so we   could stock up mainly on cat food um that's the  thing that's hard to find because we try to keep   them on the same brand but we've got plenty  of cat food we've stocked up on groceries   kurt's putting it away how you doing  back there kirti we're getting it   grocery day's always busy always interesting next  stop the base of a very very very tall volcano all right there's the mighty chimbrazo snow caught  the first glimpse it's sticking out a little bit   from the clouds but not much so just you  guys know about this place it stopped   closest to the sun and furthest from the center of  the earth place on the planet the top of timbrazo   they call it the poor man's mount everest we have  found our camp and the first order of business   is we take our sawdust out of the big  bag and we fill up and we reuse these   gallons of flop bags takes one gallon of sawdust  for our toilet so so far from this bag we've got   this is the fourth gallon bag we're filling up so  we'll probably get six or seven bags out of this   i'd say a bag lasts us five to eight days  depending on how things are going right kerdi we are settled into our camp and it is cold and  windy we've hidden behind this dune here and right   behind the van is uh volcano chimbrazo now we are  parked at 13 250 feet above sea level and look at   that monster sticking up behind us covered in snow  tomorrow morning bright and early we're only about   a mile from the national park entrance and we'll  be heading in get a little closer to this thing   drive through the park pop out on the south  side but uh they're supposed to be some cool   little deer like little creatures i am  totally blank for their names right now   we're gonna try to find them but it's time to  button up the van get inside turn on our heater it is cold up here we just discovered  that our diesel heater inside of our van   works at 13 250 feet then cranks we are  cozy in our little tiny house on wheels   and kurt is whipping us up i'm gonna call it  an avocado salad so we were wondering for those   of you that don't know diesel heaters don't  really like to work so well at high altitude   sometimes they give you a fit but ours is doing  pretty good right now we're lucky today yes we are   ladies and gentlemen welcome to chimbraso good  morning everyone well it was a windy night   through here and we had the heater run and the  heater worked well so i can't say we were cold   but it's certainly cold outside  we're a little over 13 thousand feet   it's kind to believe hard to believe the  chambrazzo is over twenty thousand feet to   the summit there but that is the case we're  gonna head up there today and get a closer   look hopefully we'll get to show you guys before  these clouds set in they are everywhere though   so i'm not overly optimistic but  we'll see what we can get for you guys   so we have stopped on the side of the  road halfway between the park entrance   and our camp because there are these cool little  animals they're called vicunias i might not be   saying that right they're similar to deer they  look kind of like an alpaca and they're crossing   the road and they're running around on this  hill it is very windy here kurt is going to try   to get over them with the drone so you  guys can get a better look at them too look at it people be bopping around  whoo he's trying to land it yay   holding on to his hat holding  on to the remote control and it's freezing out there i better get the heater cranked up for curt we saw you trying to land that thing holy cow wow wow before i found out the name  of them i was calling them alpaca deer   i think that's a pretty good description  look how long their necks are hi pretty guys they're so pretty all right here we  go so we've got a bit of a problem   vanna is definitely not feeling well this  morning she threw up a few times last night   and she is lethargic this morning she is  eating and drinking but we're hoping that   maybe the altitude is getting to her maybe she's  sensitive to the altitude we are very high up   and me and kurt are both suffering from a little  bit of a headache and a little bit of fatigue   so we are going to just drive through this  national park next to this amazing volcano   we're not going to try to climb it like we did  at the last big volcano and we're going to head   down and if getting down to a lower elevation  doesn't help her dramatically then we're going   to be looking for a vet just to get her checked  out but she's definitely not feeling super good and that's our baby so one of the cool things  in the us is we did our farewell usa tour with   all the national parks and all the wildlife and  you know we've been chasing monkeys and birds but   big stuff like deer we haven't seen north america  you can't see them but they're all over the place   out here and it's one of the things i love about  national parks is the way they protect the nature   and these little uh pecunias are super super  cool and also this volcano is chimbrazzo is so   impressive i'm not sad that we can't go up there  because my mind is 100 on getting vana to a lower   altitude and that's the most important thing  right now so we're headed out there for that but   while we're driving through here i definitely am  going to take in this beautiful national park and   even though the landscape looks like the moon you  can't help but stare at that big giant chimborazo   get down out of this mess yeah when we had a bit  of internet back there we stopped so i could do   some research to see if animals are affected by  altitude and they are not all animals kind of like   humans some some people are affected some cats and  dogs are affected i think it's pretty obvious that   vanna is affected and we are working on getting  her lower for the little bit of articles i could   find about it we need to get below 8 000 feet  and that's when you know pets should start to be   okay um if you're at a high altitude for too long  with them feeling bad it could become very serious   uh they can build up fluid in their lungs and on  their brain so we're driving very safely but we're   driving as fast as we can to get back down to a  lower elevation for our little pumpkin and g is   worried about her too y'all can hear him so our i  overlander app that we depend on so much and love   you download it onto your phone and you can use  it when you don't have internet connection which   is good so i just went back if y'all remember a  couple of weeks ago we stayed at a really cool   finca or farm and met monica who's from the states  but lives down here now that is where we're headed   and i just went there on the ioverlander app  and it is about 7 900 feet it is perfect so   we're gonna go there we're gonna stay there for  at least two days and just see if vanna starts   to feel better if she doesn't start to feel better  monica has a lot of pets so we know she probably   has a local vet we could get to if we needed to  it's the perfect place to go see about vana and   also have us set up to be close enough to cuenca  for my dentist appointment that's in four days   geez guys we're having a tough run of it right  now but all concerns are on vana right now   all right we're already down to almost  10 000 feet we stopped for a second and   gave van a little bit of water and she got  up for a minute and now she's laid back down this is tough guys we can  tell she feels really bad   and we just didn't know we just not even  something that we'd ever heard of or thought about   that altitude could affect our little  animals and we feel absolutely horrible   we're going vanna baby we're going we  made it to the farm we're at 7 500 feet   everything i read said get below 8 000  we've done it as soon as we open the   door by the little birds here she hopped down  and now the most important thing she's eating   next we're going to make sure she gets some water  but this is mostly gravy so she's getting a lot of   oh liquids think we're gonna be  okay guys she gave us quite a scare   make sure you think about your pets if you're  going somewhere that they're not used to being up   we just had no idea to even think  about altitude sickness in our pets that was tough guys if something  was to happen to our little kitties   because of us being ignorant  to something like that but she's chowing down on some gravy right now the next 12 hours we need to make  sure she keeps eating and drinking this might change some of our  plans as we head farther south   we'll drive through high elevations but we will  never camp that high again it's just not worth it what are you doing bubba what  are you doing you got an audience so jill just lay here and  these alpacas are so curious   and they just stare at them they can't take their  eyes off him buy stuff up there between the two   of them they'll kind of pay a little attention  to me but they want to watch this guy right here   so we have been here at the finca for almost 24  hours i showed y'all yesterday vanna drinking a   little water which was a very good sign but  yesterday afternoon was a bit scary she was   definitely still very groggy confused and tired  and we were worried we were going to have to   make an emergency vet run this morning but as you  can see we're all relaxed g's watching the birds   vanna's feeling better kurt's doing some editing  vana just found this little secret cubby hi pretty   girl she's aged she's drank she scratched  her scratching pads she's watching the birds   she feels better maybe still a little  tired but we don't need to make the vet run   we're going to relax though no moving days  we're gonna give her more time to feel better   so with that kurt's gonna keep editing and  we'll see you guys in a few days cheers if you like this video be sure  to subscribe to our channel   and hit that notification bell so you guys know  when we put out new videos and don't forget you   can always follow us over on instagram to see  what's going on in between videos cheers guys you

2022-06-11 21:59

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