Ambato, Ecuador
Ambato lies in the main valley of the Central Cordillera, the highest of the Andean mountain ranges. The city itself is carved into the side of Cerro Casigana, the mountain that dominates the north end of the city. From Ambato, it is possible to see many snow-capped volcanoes including Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Carihuairazo, and the largest mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo. Tungurahua lies about 40 kilometers to the southeast. The threat of eruption from the volcano is constant. On May 16, 2006, Tungurahua erupted, covering the city with a thick layer of ash.
Chimborazo Park
The name Chimborazo comes from a volcano in Ecuador. It is believed that
the Richmond hill was dubbed Chimborazo around 1802, the year of Alexander von Humboldt’s
unsuccessful attempt to scale the mountain in Ecuador. Chimborazo Hill was one of Richmond's "seven hills" and thought to have been so named by a local world-traveler because of its topographical likeness to the Ecuadorian volcano. A brewery had dug cellars in the Richmond hill to store beer. At the top of the cellars was a hole that acted as a chimney. A Richmond newspaper reported that any fire in the cellar would cause "billows of smoke [to come] through making the hill look like a miniature Vesuvius."