The Altitude Crazies

In June 2011, I travelled to Ecuador for a humanitarian trip with Me to We. Before the trip, I was told that the altitude may affect me as I would not be used to the amount of oxygen in the air. On earth, we all live under an ocean of air. At sea level, the weight of the air compresses oxygen down, therefore at sea level there is more oxygen. 21% of air is oxygen, at all altitudes, but as the altitude increases, the density of air decreases, therefore there is less of "everything". Less nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, even though the percentage of each of these gases remain the same.

I experienced the change of altitude first-hand as I travelled the Andes with 20 other youth from Canada and United-States. Here, at home, in the Gaspesie, I am always active, biking or running, so I thought I would be fine in Ecuador, even with the altitude change. However, when I got there, I realized I was completely wrong. At our first stop in Ecuador, in the capital, Quito, my first encounter with the change in altitude was walking up the steps in our hostel. I was out of breath by the third step. I was so shocked. Quito is 2800m high in altitude. And we were only going higher.

When we went to the rural communities of Ecuador, 4000m and higher, a couple of people got sick, they were too weak, and too tired to function, for a couple days. The lack of oxygen affected many people during this trip but after a few days of rest, they were fine. However, in the community that we were building the school, every night the locals would invite to play soccer. It was the death of everyone. Running after the ball in 4000 m of altitude is the hardest thing ever. At some points after sprinting after the ball, I thought I was going have a heart attack. My lungs were so desperate for oxygen, it was actually painful.