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over from Massachusetts , Connecticut , and Belgium centuries ago . If you can find yourself a local to show you around , you are allowed to see inside the factory and Ecuador Freedom know just the guy .
In the shop of a wool-dyeing and knitting workshop you can find excellent ponchos , jumpers and blankets made from the wool of animals roaming just up the mountain . Of course , the town also sells salt from the town ’ s salt spring , wrapped in dried grasses off the mountains for packaging . And randomly , there is a football factory where a single employee makes footballs by hand , pressed in big iron forms , and baked in an oven ! This , too , is part of the co-op .
Over the hill from the cheese factory , you end up above the treeline in one of the communities that much appreciate travellers bringing school supplies with them . Ecuador Freedom visit one of several schools they have built a rapport with , on each tour to drop off supplies . The Pack for a Purpose program is super helpful in deciding what to bring . And if you ’ re lucky the children might bring out their instruments and sing a song to celebrate the occasion .
An excellent dirt road leads to Chimborazo , a snowpeaked volcano standing in stark loneliness in the barren brown landscape . At over 6310m it is the highest mountain in Ecuador and higher than Everest , when considering the earth ’ s bulge at the equator . It is part of the “ Avenue of Volcanoes ” running south from Quito . Some are snow-covered , some green with a patchwork of fields running up their slopes .
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