Volcanic Retreat


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South America » Ecuador » Centre » Cotopaxi
November 22nd 2010
Published: November 28th 2010
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We took a taxi to the Secret Garden Hostel in Quito for our transfer to their partner hostel at Cotopaxi. This place was really cool, with an open air roof terrace that had fantastic views all over the city. However, it was more expensive than the hostel we had stayed in, and breakfast wasn't even included. It seemed like every traveller and his brother was staying there though. The manager of the hostel was French, and he had certainly brought along with him his cultural influences by having the most fantastic breakfasts cooked up by chefs on the terrace. The choice was eggs or French toast on this particular day; we ordered both while waiting for our transfer as we didn't know when we would next eat. Finally everyone was ready and we clambered into the cars so full and excited to go.

The drive took around 2 hours, but it was a really slow ride. This is because the roads were in such terrible condition (mud and rock tracks) which made for a very bumpy journey. It was really nice though as we drove through some stunning scenery- a bit like back home really but a lot sunnier. The grass was so green, and there were loads of really healthy looking animals- really fluffy cows, and lots of dogs everywhere. We drove through little quaint villages which were home to very traditional looking families who farmed the land. This place was really beautiful, and a world apart from Quito.

We pulled up to the Secret Garden and we were not to be disappointed. It was as described, in the middle of nowhere. The location was so peaceful; we were surrounded by fields which homed various animals including donkeys, wild horses, alpacas, sheep, cows, and also giant bulls which were owned by the neighbour, and were used for bull fighting back in Quito. The Secret Garden was made up of a number of small buildings, including the common 'house' and then the dorms, tents, cabins, jacuzzi room and composting toilets were all separate. Apart from the main house and jacuzzi, there was no electricity anywhere. All of the bedrooms were heated by fires, and lit by candles. From everywhere on the grounds there was a fantastic view of the Cotopaxi volcano, rumoured to be the most symmetrical and perfectly formed volcano in the world.

The main house was really quaint and just like a little country house with a log fire, open kitchen, and a big dining area for everyone to eat together. When we arrived we were immediately seated and served chicken soup. We were all going on a trip to a waterfall that afternoon. However, when we had been told 'trip to the waterfall' we had expected to be visiting a waterfall, taking a few pictures etc etc. It was nothing like that. What we acutally did was clamber down into the crevice between two steep hills, and clung onto the walls on the inside of the waterfall for dear life, whilst edging our way up the waterfall and trying to avoid falling into the water. Most of the trip was quite intense climbing, except the walls were made of mud and roots, so it was really a lot of digging your nails in and hoping. We made it to the main waterfall at the top of the cascades, but our guide told us we had to go back as by this time it was torrentially raining, and being rainy season, the water levels were too high.

Everyone sighed with relief when we finally made it back to the house as it had been an unexpectedly tiring afternoon. We were pleased to see that the menu for dinner was Thai curry followed by carrot cake. Whilst waiting for dinner we got chatting to an English girl who had been living in Bondi for the last four years- she had no intention of ever returning home. We also spent the time fussing the most amazing dogs- there were two dalmatians Basil and Milo, and two sausage dogs Mash and Daisy. They were honestly the most snuggly dogs we have ever come across. Dinner was amazing and was a sign of what was to come during our stay. After dinner we booked onto the horseback riding tour for the following day, and after a few beers we went to bed as we needed to be up early.

We woke around six the following morning and Katie was so excited to see the volcano not surrounded by clouds, she quickly ran out of the dorm to take some snaps. Unfortunately this ended in disaster when she stepped in a giant cow pat in her flip flops. However, this was a good thing as it lead to having an early shower, meaning she was able to attend morning yoga (something she won't be doing again for a long time).

Breakfast was served promptly at 7.30 as trips were to start at 8. This is because in rainy season it rains heavily from about 1pm onwards, so they try to get the tours done in the morning, when the skies are clear and the sun is out. Unfortunately our guide had called in to work saying he was too hungover to prepare the horses, and that we would need to find an alternative. What on earth the man was doing getting hammered on a Monday night before work beats us. Anyhow, this meant we ended up waiting around until 9 when another man turned up with two extra horses (who had never met the other horses was our bet). We were going on the tour with a lovely German couple who were both teachers and were taking a school year out. We have met loads of teachers on our travels doing the same thing. Anyway, we all chatted and realised we were less than experienced riders- most of our experiences amounted to riding a donkey along the beach. Katie had taken a shine to a little grey horse as he was really cute and looked quite old, and liked to be fussed. She was partnered with Spirit, and the others were each assigned a horse. Upon Luke's assignment of a horse, our Spanish-only speaking guide announced the word 'feisty'. Haha he was not wrong, Luke's horse was a wild animal, leaping and bounding everywhere. One thing was clear, and that was that she didn't take direction from anybody.

The guide pressed the reins into each of our hands and demostrated that moving them in a particular way would make the horse move that way. This one-way conversation was conducted in Spanish, and we obviously had no idea what the guide had said. Not to worry though, as horses follow each other anyway don't they? Well we quickly found this was not the case, and were thrown straight into the lion's den whilst cantering along the cobbled driveway. Luke looked nothing short of terrified as his horse ran (literally) about 500 metres in front of everyone else. He could not get her to slow down, and when he pulled on her reins she whinnied. Katie was unfortunately having the opposite problem with Spirit who was slow paced and spent most of the time with his head in the bushes munching. The guide informed her that she would have to tap his bum to get him to move, but even when she did this Spirit only ran when he wanted to- in little spurts of ten steps or so. And then there was the myth that horses will follow each other- Spirit must have done this route thousands of times in his life, but he seemed to have no direction skills, or care to be with the other horses. Fortunately, we finally made it off the cobbled roads (which the horses seemed to hate) and were onto a dirt track making our way up the mountain. This is when it all came together and the ride was just amazing. By some stroke of luck Spirit liked to run on the dirt roads, which meant that we were able to canter together, Luke's feisty horse and Spirit were running together right up to the plateau of 4100 metres where we stopped. The experience was amazing, and it was a much more comfortable ride as the horses were able to grip the ground better. The speed of the horses was so fun, and something neither of us had experienced before.

At the stopping point we were able to get off the horse and climb to the peak of the mountain. We climbed near to the top but had to go back down for the lemon tea and homemade banana cakes that our guide had brought along. While we were eating the skies covered over with black clouds, and the rain started. We quickly mounted our horses as the guide reassured us that the horses liked the rain, and that there would be no problems galloping down the steep dirt tracks. We headed off and it became very clear that the horses were intent on getting back, and that they did not like the rain. All apart from Spirit. He was tired our from his run to the top, and was determined not to move. Eventually when Katie had dropped back almost out of sight, the guide came back to her and offered to swap horses. Katie didn't want to give up on Spirit but he was really difficult. She was later informed that Spirit's calm demeanour was nothing to do with age, but because he had been the only survivor of four during a vicious bull-attack in June. Oh ok so she was riding the injured horse. Well that made a lot of sense. Katie got up onto the new horse and quickly caught up with the others, leaving the guide and Spirit miles back. Eventually when we got back to the roads, the guide had managed to get Spirit to catch up with the rest of us, but this was through continual whipping. We felt sorry for him but we needed our guide.
The ride back was nowhere near as nerve-inducing as on the way, as we had become used to riding the horses. It was quite scary to watch the horses feet on the cobbles however as they were slipping and tripping everywhere in the rain and in the potholes. They were really excited to be nearing home, and it became a bit of a race to get back. It was so fun as the horses took their own routes back, they didn't need direction anymore and we were all up front running together.

We arrived back to the house in time for rice and vegetable stir fry which was really good and definitely required after our horse ride. We had no idea that it would be so much work; at some points when we were running down the mountain we were literally clinging onto the saddle whilst our bodies were being thrown in the air. Our stirrups were not regular ones- they were like little clogs; as we were riding in wellies it wasn't the easiest to grip into them. So as the rain was hitting our faces we had every muscle tensed and focused on holding on. It was quite important to do this as we were not given helmets. Neither had we been told which way to lean on the horse at speed, or downhill. Anyway we had made it back safely and exhilirated, but also exhausted. We decided that the only cure for this was a trip to the jacuzzi with some beers, so we went along with our new German friends and a couple from Conneticut we had met the previous day.

On our first night we had stayed in the dorm room, but after another German couple showed us their cute little cabin we could upgrade to for 14USD a night (plus TAX- everything is plus TAX here) we had decided to take the plunge. The cabin had two floors, on the ground it even had a bath and toilet. This was a luxury the dorm didn't have, and franky one we couldn't live without- after a few beers at night it was hell walking back to the main house to use the loo. The cabin had its own little fire, and the bed was up on the second level in the eaves, with a clear view out to Cotopaxi. It was a little slice of heaven and the icing on the cake was that when we returned to our cabin at night the candles woulde be lit, the fire would be burning, and there was a hot water bottle waiting in the bed. It made the fact that we had no electricity much less of a problem. We were paying just under 80USD (we haven't properly mentioned that in Ecuador they use USD here) per night. It was expensive but with the dorm expensive too at just under 60USD a night we decided it was worth upgrading. All of the trips at the house were not free either- it had been 30USD each for the horse ride, and the following day we were to climb Cotopaxi and slegde and mountain bike down for 35USD each. This place was not cheap but worth every dollar.

Anyway after our second delicious dinner of carbonara with garlic bread and salad (oh salad, we miss it) followed by Oreo cheesecake, we were exhaused and Luke's legs were aching from the horse ride, so we decided to get some rest ready for our big adventure the following day.

We woke up on Wednesday (Kate's birthday) in our lovely cabin. We had to get ready quickly for our trip to Cotopaxi, and head to breakfast. We left at 8am on the dot as the manager of the hostel had to ride along with us to catch a bus into town. Unfortunately along the road we got held up by a delivery lorry that had got stuck in the mud whilst trying to turn. This had resulted in a road block- we watched for around 15 minutes as a tractor tried to pull it free. The bus eventually caught up with the hold-up meaning we didn't have to take the detour to drop the manager to the bus stop in town.

We arrived at Cotopaxi National parks and the views of the volcano were fantastic against the clear blue skies. We had been informed that we probably wouldn't be able to make it to the glacier as the snowfall had been so heavy the last few days. Our companions for the trip were our new German friends and a British guy. We rode to a stopping point a few hundred metres from the base of the volcano, and the guide pointed out the refuge to where we would have to hike. This wasn't really Katie's idea of a fun birthday, but she was looking forward to the sledging down part so off we went. The hike was quite difficult because the snow was knee high and the incline was really steep. It was important to walk in other people's footsteps or otherwise lose your legs in the snow. We made it to the refuge in around an hour, and were rewarded with more homemade banana cake and hot chocolate.

We were unable to walk to the glacier, but climbed a little higher into the undisturbed snow ready to sledge all the way back down. Our sledges were plastic carrier bags but they still did the job and sledging back to the car was really fun. Our guide drove us down a little further to a safe stopping point where he unloaded our bikes from the roof and we were able to ride the rest of the way down. The bikes really were crap with Luke's having a completely flat front tyre and the brakes not working. The ride wasn't as fun as we were expecting and we would have been completely disappointed if we had only visited Cotopaxi to do this trip, as we had previously planned.
We arrived back to the house and had a little nap as we were really exhausted. We were welcomed by mojitos when we arrived to the house in the evening, ready for bacon and cheese barbecue burgers. Everyone at the dinner table sang for Katie's birthday and she had her fruit crumble presented with a candle. We went to bed that night excited that we would not have to get up at the crack of dawn.

We woke the following morning around 7 anyway, due to the shining sun and beautiful views over Cotopaxi. We each had a bath (what a luxury) and then headed to the house for some breakfast. We spent most of the morning swapping photos and chatting with our new German friends. We decided to have lunch at the hostel and wait for the English guy to return so we could catch a taxi with him to the nearby town for the bus to our next destination, Banos.


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28th November 2010

spirit n looks horse
LOL ashame the spanish guy cant speak english maybe he would have been bit more helpful! love the pics =) snow in Cov but not up to knee height as u described =P sounds n looks like u had a fab bday missy xxx

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