Blogs from Cotopaxi, Centre, Ecuador, South America

Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, EcuadorI have not been to one National Park that I did not love; one of man's greatest ideas. Maybe you have had similar experiences. The National Park of Cotopaxi is no exception. Snow capped volcano, wild horses, pristine wilderness; 82,000 acres of it. The park rises from 3400 to 5900 meters. In indigenous tongue, Cotopaxi means piece of the moon. Out of this world. Cotopaxi is the second most visited national park after the Galapagos Islands. People know beauty when they see it.... read more

Ok so I was having a little anxiety about my ability to make it all the way up to the glacier. My last ¨volcano¨ experience in Chile had been a bit traumatic. I had no problem making it up to the Refugio Jose Rivas at 4800m. It was an even, winding dirt path up to the refugio. I was the first in my group after the guide. When we got to the refugio we were served hot tea, salami and cheese sandwiches which tasted delicious! Then it was time to trek up to the glacier... There was a light snow flurry and path was much more steep and the ground much less firm. It was like climbing uphill on sand...kinda of tricky for me. This time I was in the middle of the pack and breathing ... read more

I apologize for the very long lapse since my last blog entry. I just finished my overland trip from Quito to Lima and it was full of incredible adventures! Since I am so far behind I will try to group my days together so I don{t have too many entries. This entry goes way back in time before I even met my overland group and I was in Quito on my own. August 3rd The hostel I was staying at, The Secret Garden, also has a branch near Cotopaxi so I spent one night there as my only opportunity to see the mountain. There was a bus from the Quito branch out to the Cotopaxi one and it was full of other single travelers as well which was fun. The hostel was a little group of ... read more

Once again I returned to Malingua Pamba, the indigenous village high in the Andes where I've been working with Engineers Without Borders for the past four years. This was my 12th visit to this village. At the end of March I met Pam and the first group of volunteers at Quito airport, along with 25 boxes of donations. We spent a couple of days in Latacunga, a town halfway to the village, where we met with the Provincial director of the Department of Education as well as the Rector of the Universidad where several graduates of the village high school are now studying on scholarship. Although Pam's Spanish has improved greatly since I first met her in 2003, she still likes to have me along to interpret for these official meetings. We then headed up the ... read more

It is a fact universally acknowledged that every visitor to Ecuador is in want of that perfect cloud-free shot of Cotopaxi. Unfortunately Cotopaxi herself also seems to know this and so, according to every Ecuadorian you ask, hides from tourists. Only nationals it seems are permitted to see her. I initially though this to be another joke at the expense of foreigners cleverly doubling as a get-out-of-jail-free card for tour guides when irate tourists berate him over the fact that their countless photos of their trip to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi are of the black base of a mountain completely shrouded in clouds. Still, we set out on beautifully clear and sunny Sunday at the crack of dawn in order to get a photo of this rather elusive Ecuadorian icon. The most amazing sight of all was ... read more

So, the landscape here is pretty much all volcanic and so I can't wait to do one of my dream experiances....climb up an active volcano. I book a tour for the next day (costs $35 day trip) which is the average price here. So next morning I sit and wait at the local coffee shop for my pick up and play 'spot the other gringo's on the trip today'. Two Aussies, a French canadian, 3 Colombians and me head off to the area where we are to acclimatise (4,000ft) and buy snacks, water or anything else we may have forgotten to bring. Its a beautiful day with blue sky and hot sunshine but our guide advises us to buy gloves and hats if we havn't brought them....we all look at him skeptically but buy cheap ones ... read more

We set out in the clear morning making a few stops along the way to get used to the altitude and to have some coca tea, buy gloves and see the Cotopaxi National Park displays. Arriving at the carpark we set off up the side of the volcano toward the refugio. The landscape is beautiful, snow capped peaks and all that but Wayne is not enjoying the altitude and then it begins to snow. Beautiful little balls of snow. The refugio appears and then disappears in the clouds as we climb. Hot chocolate, a glorious view (when it can be seen through the snow or clouds) and great conversation whilst Tasha and Nic braved the cold some more to reach the glacier. After lunch and a much quicker and easier walk back down to the car ... read more

En arrivant à Banos et alors que je suis à la recherche d'un guide pour faire du canyoning, je décide de partir grimper le volcan Cotopaxi ! C'était une idée un peu folle, moi qui n'ai jamais fait de haute montagne... Mais il faut bien un début à tout. Mercredi matin, je pars donc pour le parc naturel de Cotopaxi. Avec moi, un couple de hollandais et Milton, notre guide équatorien. La première journée est une journée d'acclimatation à l'altitude, à 3800m. On part faire une rando dans le parc, dans les lagunes où on peut observer des chevaux sauvages. A part un léger mal de tête, je ne ressens pas encore les effets de l'altitude, ce qui est plutôt bon signe. Le lendemain matin, on part en direction du second refuge, à 4800m d'altitude. On ... read more