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Published: October 12th 2009
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We have been having a wonderful time here a Secret Garden Cotopaxi, we had seen a leaflet about this place at another hostel and the setting looked great, and we haven´t been disappointed. We have decided to go over the budget a little here but has all been well worth it. Heading south from Quito to the hostel again we had a clear day and could see the brilliant volanoes. The hostel is set just outside the National Park Cotopaxi in the quiet countryside and set with the most amazing view of Cotopaxi which has you just mesmorised. We have spent three days here and really enjoyed and savoured, the food has been brilliant. Set at 3500m it wasn´t as cold as we had been expecting, our room was nice and the fire kept it warm through the night. Although our water was a little sporadic.
There is only a little bit of elecrticity here which means its nights by candlelight, with wine, clear evening skies and a roaring fire which it makes for a lovely escape from the city and a great place to relax. Our first full day we decided to get up close to Cotopaxi (5897m). We have
heard stories of people climbing to the summit (the agencies make it sound easy enough), and maybe a few days ago I may have wanted to climb to the top, but have now changed my mind. You need special equipment to tackle the glacier part, you leave at midnight from the refuge, get up to the top for sunrise and then return before the ice starts to melt and become unstable. One of the guys here tried it and had to come down after headaches and nose bleeds and not all people get to the top. Our trip got us part way up the volcano to the car park around 4500m or so. We then did the slow ascent up to the refuge at 4800m. The weather was quite clear and we had great views of the summit above, as well as the scene below. Once at the refuge we took a break for lunch before we made a final walk up to the ice on top of the volcano, up at 5000m. We even saw an Andean wolf. We both felt really great to get up this high and get this close to the brilliant volcano we had been
looking at the previous days.
The final day I did another walk up to the top of Pasachoa with a few people from the hostel (and some of the dogs), again wonderful views, all the way back to Quito. Deb stayed in a hammock with her book and some red wine! It was a great few days, the people staying with us were nice, the place had a few dogs to keep us company on the walks as well (Mash the sausage dog was the coolest), the food as I have already said was great also. We are sadly leaving this wonderful place as a new town beckons, by the name of Baños, which in Spanish means toilet so we are hoping it is different to the pictures in our mind.
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