skoro zdolanie cotopaxi/ climbing cotopaxi - almost

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O dnesku sme vedeli, ze bude velmi narocny a preto sme sa skusili vyzpat co najlepsie, bohuzial, vdaka netesniacemu oknu sme boli hore uz o siestej. Cakal nas vystup na Cotopaxi, co najvyssie az po ladovec, lebo dalej uz trepa specialnu vybavu na lad. Auto ktore nas tam viezlo bolo velmi typicke pre Ekvador- 600.000 km, ziadne pasy, nefungujuce perovanie, ale aj tak to auticko zvladlo bez problemov.

Prva zastavka bola laguna Limpiopungo, ktora vznikla a je zasobovana z topiaceho sa snehu. Celu sme si ju obisli a naozaj to stalo za to, dokonca sme videli aj nejake miestne vtaky.

A potom prisiel hlavny ciel dnesneho dna, vystupili sme na parkovisku, lebo dalej to uz autom nejde a zacali slapat. Na zaciatku to celkom islo, ale postupne sme museli zastavovat stale castejsie a castejsie, aby sme sa poriadne nadychli. Z parkoviska do zakladneho tabora /kamenny domec/ to bolo prevysenie "len" 300 metrov, ale v tejto vyske to vyzeralo ako vecnost. Konecne sa nam podarilo vystupit k taboru vo vyske 4810, co je vyska Mont Blancu a tam nas cakal lahodny obed. Teda vlastne par sendvicov, nejaky syr, sunka, ale chutilo to vyborne. Potom, posilneni, sme sa vydali este vyssie, az tam kde zacinal ladovec. Podarilo sa nam dostat az do 4965 metrov, ale to sme uz museli zastavovat kazdych par krokov lebo sme nestacili z dychom. Je to tazke vysvetlit, ake to je ked clovek dycha a dycha a kyslik sa do pluc aj tak nedostava.
Zostup bol uz jednoduchy a bez nejakych problemov. Jedina vec, ktora nas trocha mrzela bola, ze tam bolo celkom dost mrakov a vrchol bolo vidiet len chvilami, ale co uz, pocasiu se rozkazat neda. Toto bol nas asi najnamahavejsi den zatial, ale vecer sme z toho mali velmi dobry pocit, ze ked chceme vydrzime vela.

A dalsia dobra sprava je, ze nas pokazeny fotak sa porarilo opravit milym a nepochybne velmi sikovnym miestnym opravarom. Stalo to 10 dolar co je super, lebo sme cakali ze to bude ovela viac, alebo budeme musiet kupit novy fotak.

A na zaver vecera este lahodka, v izbe sme objavili nasho prveho juhoamerickeho svaba, ale sme si isty, ze nebol posledny...


Today was going to be a hard day, and we knew it so we tried to get as much sleep as we could. Unfortunatelly we were up by 6, because our window wasnt sealed and you could hear everything. Our plan was to conquer Cotopaxi, climb as high as we could without using special equipment for glaciers. The car, taht was taken us there, was very typical for Ecuador - 600.000 on the clock, no belts, poor suspensions but still going strong.

Our first stop was laguna Limpiopungo, that was created and fills by melting snow. We did hike around and it was really magnificent.

After that the main target of our trip came, we get off the car and started to walk up to the refugio. The beginnig was easy but it changed very quickly and every step started to be harder and harder. From the car park to the refugio we had to overcome 300m in altitude, which didnt look too much, but because of thin air it was a hard work. Finally we made it to the refugio /4800/ which is like Mont Blanc. We had our lunch there and decided to move up, as high as possible to the glacier. We managed to get to 4965m, but at this altitude we had to stop every few step and really take it easy. Its hard to explain, how it feels to breath in and not to get enough oxygen into you lungs.
The descend was much easier and withouth any difficulties. The only shame was lots of clouds around so we could see the top just sometimes, but what can you do. This was our hardest day so far, but in the evening we were glad and felt proud of ourselves.

Another good news is that we had our camera repaired by very skilfull local man and it cost just 10 dollars. We expected the worst and having to buy a new one.

And the very last thing was finding our first, but not last southamerican cockroach.

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