…being on top of a mountain

A week or so ago I went and sat on top a mountain. I got a lift for the 3 hour journey in a friends car. It was small car, not designed for off-roading and we struggled up the winding lanes and the over deep chunks missing from the roads, only narrowly avoiding them on occasion. We spent most of the journey listening to heavy rain and the radio fuzzing in and out of signal. We left early and I drifted in and out of consciousness, waking with a feeling of malaise and disorientation.

When we stopped the car at the top of the mountain, just below the volcano Tungurahua, I opened the door and got out. And it struck me like a bolt. It was silent. Absolutely silent, almost like being in a vacuum. It was incredible. It made me realise I had been used to some sort of high or low level noise since I got off the plane in Quito. Ecuador is not generally a quiet place. Certainly living in Tena in the Amazon region, if there’s not music playing (which is almost always!) then there’s the noise of the rain and the constant high pitch scream of insects, frogs and birds. This was the first time I had experienced silent in about 2 months. It was quite, quite exquisite.

I wanted to wallow and bathe in the beautiful silence. Lying down on the grass, looking up towards the great expanse of blue sky with the clouds floating past I thought of living just here. How would it be to wake up every day and see this view. The friend whose land I was visiting had plans. Plans to build a hostel right there on the top of the mountain. My concern initially was the active volcano sitting just above us on the opposite side of the valley. A mere stone’s throw away. It’s an incredibly powerful feeling to be so close to an active volcano, seeing the scorce marks down the side of it but know you are not standing directly in its path. It’s like a monster churning out ash, lava, smoke and flames. But on this day it sits, at least for the hours I am there, silent, pausing, taking in a breathe before it belches forth once more.

And we need time for reflection. A pause. A break from the constant noise, the rhythm of work, social events, recreational activities and chores. To think we need time, and space and silence and to remove ourselves from the distractions we surround ourselves with. And so I’m off to the mountains for a few weeks, hopefully from next week. Some time to reflect and put together all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.