Ecuadorian Highlands and "The Invention of Nature"
- Aug 24
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
At 9,350 feet, Quito is the second highest capital city in the world. The altitudes of Denver, and other cities that challenge the breathing of many lowland folk, pale in comparison. Traveling to the center of Quito from the valley below feels like being a river in reverse, winding through ravines and along steep slopes to climb into the lofty capital.
Ecuador's mountains are taller still. The inactive volcano known as Chimborazo was once thought to be the highest mountain in the world. It was one of a series of volcanoes that fascinated the Prussian naturalist often referred to as the “father of ecology,” Alexander von Humboldt, when he traveled through Ecuador in the very beginning of the 1800s.
“Mountains held a spell over Humboldt,” wrote Andrea Wulf in The Invention of Nature. She narrated the evolution of the naturalist’s theories as he traveled widely, gathering extensive field observations, and the influence he had on generations of scientists, writers, and politicians—from Jefferson and Bolivar to Darwin, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, Muir, Carson, and beyond. “Whenever he stood on a summit or a high ridge, he felt so moved by the scenery that his imagination carried him even higher.”
Humboldt’s visit to Ecuador was part of a larger trek through the Americas that included what are now Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and the United States. He navigated waterways to see if the Orinoco connected to the Amazon, climbed to record heights and new discoveries in the Andes, and studied the nutrient-rich current that runs off the western coast of South America.
Wulf described how Humboldt traveled with the latest scientific equipment of the time, including several precious barometers. He measured everything he could, making detailed environmental observations, collecting thousands of botanical specimens, and drafting detailed drawings, maps, and diagrams. He noted the effects that human activity and colonialism were having on the local environment, like the way deforestation and the diversion of water for agriculture were lowering the water levels of Venezuela’s Lake Valencia. He combined local knowledge and his own meticulous observations to make the connection.
I traced a few of Humboldt’s steps at the base of Antisana, Ecuador’s fourth-highest volcano, this spring. There is a long, low-roofed house standing there, now a small museum, where he and his fellow explorers spent a miserably cold night over 200 years before I arrived at the mountain. The altitude was heady beneath the towering, snow-covered peak. I walked slowly at first when I stepped out of the vehicle that had climbed steadily from Quito to over 13,400 feet and reminded myself not to panic when it took too long to fill my lungs to satisfaction with each breath.
With 19th century equipment, Humboldt and his group went on to climb the taller Chimborazo. Though they did manage to climb higher than any other European at that time, a crevasse prevented their ascent to the final peak. But breaking climbing records would not be Humboldt’s biggest contribution to history. Instead, he is credited with inspiring a more integrated approach to natural science, which he began to grasp on the hostile slopes of Chimborazo, suffering from the altitude and the extreme cold, looking out on a landscape where vegetation zones shifted with latitude and altitude and volcanoes might be acting as part of a connected system.
Today, the treeless slopes beneath Antisana serve as an invaluable resource, not only for the rare and endemic species that live there, but also for the thousands of Ecuadorians who live miles downslope. The unique mixture of high-altitude wetlands and grasslands fed by rain, mist and glacier runoff known as páramo is found only in the northern Andes of South America and a few places in Central America. From a distance, portions can seem like the now-treeless slopes of Irish mountains: there are bogs and rolling slopes of short plants and clear streams lined with mosses of different shapes and colors. Yet there is a combination of conditions that make the páramo unique, from the altitude and low barometric pressure to high winds, extreme temperature variations, and intense sun. The vast majority of the flowering plants found here are endemic.
The landscape is exceedingly absorbent, both of water and carbon. When I stepped off the dirt road to get closer to a pair of birds I wanted to photograph, the hummocky terrain gave way beneath my feet like a mossy pillow. I did not walk further, realizing this was how years of grazing had led to the compaction of the area’s soils. Combined with climate change, development, and wildfires, multiple threats can degrade the páramo’s natural capacity to take in and then release large amounts of fresh water that can then travel miles down the mountain to supply Quito, home to 15 percent of the country’s population.
An initiative linking investment in water security with conservation has made progress in protecting and restoring the páramo around Antisana as a critical watershed. Wildlife like Andean condors and short-faced Andean bears are now seen in greater numbers. Walking the streets of Quito, where people go about the worries, joys and pressures of everyday life, it’s easy to forget the acres and acres of natural spongy watershed working hard in the slopes above, but, as Humboldt pointed out, it’s all connected.
View of Cotopaxi from Quito hotel window. Plaza Grande, Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Quito, Ecuador Wall art, Quito, Ecuador Inside Hasta La Vuelta Señor restaurant, Quito, Ecuador Confused newborn llama, Quito, Ecuador Female black-tailed trainbearer hummingbird, Quito, Ecuador Sparkling viloetear hummingbird, Quito, Ecuador Sparkling viloetear hummingbird Shining sunbeam hummingbird Shining sunbeam hummingbird The house where Humboldt and his group spent a frigid night before climbing Antisana. Depiction of Alexander von Humboldt with timeline. Landscape near Antisana.
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