Silent Landscapes, Andes of Ecuador

The Andes mountain range that begins to the south in Chilean-Argentine Patagonia, has enormous heights throughout its route through South America. Upon reaching Peru it becomes wider but it is in Ecuador where its snow-capped mountains and volcanoes acquire an enormous presence, not only geographical but also aesthetic. Since Humboldt's time, travelers throughout the 19th century have viewed heights like Cotopaxi with reverence. The highlands of Ecuador have a unique beauty, thanks to the unmatched multiplicity of their landscapes, the ethnic richness they possess, and the fact that many of these places are little or not at all explored and hide exotic corners: snow-capped volcanoes, some still active; green valleys and rivers with crystal clear waters; Cloud forests and paramos—climatic zones that can only be found here, in Colombia and some in Venezuela—make up these silent landscapes of Ecuador whose airs are crossed by the flight of the majestic condor.