For the 3rd consecutive week in a row, my travel photo of the week features some dramatic mountainous scenery in the tropics.

This photo of Mount Imbabura was taken from my hotel in Otavalo, a colonial town located in the highlands of Ecuador. Otavalo is at an elevation of 2560 meters (8500 feet) above sea level, and Mount Imbabura, an inactive volcano which rises to an elevation of 4630 meters (15,160 ft), dominates the tropical landscape. The summit as you can see is covered with snow.

Now consider that the peak of Huayna Picchu (Peru) is about 2,720 meters (8,900 ft) above sea level, and the summit of Doi Chiang Dao (Thailand) is only 7,200 ft above sea level – comparing these altitudes with the elevation of Otavalo (8500 feet up) and the towering Mount Imbabura, puts the issue of altitude into perspective.

Waking up in the morning in Otavalo, to see the ‘giant in the sky’ looming in the background gave me a feeling of elation.

Tags: Ecuador, Otavalo, Travel photography

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under Ecuador, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.