Pictures of Frailejones in the way to Puracé volcano

As mentioned in another post (in Spanish), the frailejón is a plant that grows in the Andean mountains at high altitude (~3500 m) and is able to resist low temperatures and high UV radiation levels. As other plants growing in páramo ecosystems it absorbs humidity from the air, stores the water, and redistributes it through its roots.

According to the Universidad Nacional there are more than 1200 species of frailejones, 68 are endemic in Colombia and 7 are endangered because of climate changes, mining and agriculture. This is especially worrisome given that the frailejón only grows around 1 cm per year.

These frailejones were found while hiking in the Parque Nacional Puracé, we went to Puracé volcano's crater but we didn't go to the other volcanoes in the area: Pan de Azucar and Coconuco.

I'll be posting pictures of the volcano hike in the next days...