Blogs from Cotopaxi, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 10

I had high expectations for Ecuador. So far all have been exceeded. It is a beautiful and fascinating country with some of the friendliest people I have ever met. We have only been here a week and we have fallen in love with Ecuador. The undulating landscape, the colonial towns, the breathtaking views, the feeling of being at high altitude, the food... It is truly awe inspiring. We left Quito last Friday and caught the local bus to Latacunga which was in itself an unforgettable experience. All you can hear when you enter the bus station is people shouting out the names of potential destinations, eg. "Riobamba, Riobamba, Riobaaambaaaaaaaaa (X10) ". We passed most the day doing Irish versions of these. It´s funny because it´s not as if they are going to change your mind about ... read more

After a few days in Banos where I had managed to lose my hiking trail and end up on an epic walk I jumped off my bus at Machachi and met up with guide. We headed for Cotopaxi National Park for some aclimatization and ice hiking practise. Was glad I had picked the 3 day trip as I got some altitude sickness coming down on the 1st day and this was only from 4500m. The usual Ecuadorian organisation resulted in us discovering that the hostel I was suppose to staying in was closed. Anyway we began driving round to find another to discover they all seemed to be full. Anyway by chance we stumbled on Vahalla owned by Moggley tours. Mogg (the owner) was there as the manager was away and I was facing no dinner ... read more

Today, we climbed Mt. Cotopaxi. The peak of Cotopaxi is almost 5900 meters above sea level, but we took an organized tour, that went up only to about 4800 meters (The first climbers refuge). We drove most of the way up in a 4x4, and climbed that last 300 meters on foot, had a nice lunch, and came back down. Then we rode down the way we came with the 4x4 on bicycles, and got to a very nice Laguna. Once again I apologize for the lack of pictures, but the USB at the hostel still isn´t working. Maybe I´ll upload some pictures from Otavalo tomorrow. Also, thanks to Yoni for letting me know where the apostrophe is. ... read more

This is my tale of climbing a mountain. Considering London has very few mountains, this was a personal first. The mountain in question was Cotopaxi, an extinct volcano and Ecuador´s second highest peak. I had originally investigated climbing it through a company in Quito two months ago, but I quickly discarded this idea for the following reasons: 1. I have no climbing experience 2. My fear of heights 3. It looked like bloody hard work But on the journey back from Quilitoa, I saw the mountain in it´s full glory. My view was the first photo on this page. Something stirred inside me and I thought "I´ve gotta climb it." But at the same time I was a bit scared and kept coming up with excuses. The main and most pathetic one was "lip salve". I ... read more

Our trip to Cotopaxi was fantastic! The guide, Isreal, came to get us at about 9:30 am and we drove into the Cotopaxi National park and paid the required fees to enter. In return we got a nice poster of the park and a plastic bag for our garbage. The park is the second largest in Ecuador consisting of over 33,000 hectares, lagoons, Inca ruins and of course the Mother of them all: Cotopaxi Volcano. Our first stop was Laguna Limpiopango which is beautifully situated on an open plain so we stopped for a photo op. It was really windy and we had to pull out all our warm gear just to pose for the odd pic. We then drove to the Volcano and the road was just incredible considering you are climbing and climbing ... read more