Blogs from Cotopaxi, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 4

I returned to Quito from Galapagos for two days to try and arrange a biking trip to Cotopaxi. Luckily the Biking Dutchman had a small booking for Friday 7th. For the two days in Quito I made the mistake of staying at El Cafecito. From the outside it looks nice and the restaurant/cafe serves good, but pricey food, but the rooms need to be redecorated, the beds are probably the worst I´ve had to sleep in so far but for 7USD, you get what you pay for. For the day of cycling, there were 4 of us in the group and were driven by Fernando, our guide for the day, to Cotopaxi National Park. Entrance to the park was 10 USD (I believe a discount can be given for students or volunteers upon production of a ... read more

We spent another few days in Banos taking in the countryside and friendly people, there was a independence festival in Quito (capital of Ecuador) starting on December 1st so we took the bus there, Quito was pretty expensive by South American standards, and not the nicest city we've ever been to it was meant to be dangerous after 10 in the evening and was a busy thriving town and rather disappointingly the festivities weren't properly kicking off for a few days! After 2 days (and visiting the important museums and churches) we decided we'd had enough and headed back to Banos whee we started Spanish school 4 hrs of lessons a day (and about the same in homework!) and living with our teacher Elizabeth. We were very lucky in that Banos was also celebrating 50 years ... read more

Nous avons organisé notre séjour au parc national de Cotopaxi avec notre hotel, Secret Garden, qui a aussi quelques chambres á proposer lá bas. Le matin, aprés 1h30 de route, la jeep nous a déposé á l'auberge, et lá, c'était comme le paradis. Loin du bruit et de la pollution de Quito, nous étions dans les montagnes, entourés de 9 volcans, certains toujours actifs. A Quito, nous avions gagné un quizz et le premier prix était une nuit pour deux á Cotopaxi. Alors nous avons profité de l'aubaine et pris la "suite nuptiale", petite maison avec étage. Le rez de chaussé avait une baignoire, une cheminée et la chambre avait une vue magnifique sur les montagnes. Le soir, comme il n'y a pas d'électricité, le personnel allume des bougies et la cheminée et on a meme ... read more

Hola When I arrived at the secret garden hostel in Quito I met two London boys who agreed to do the equator with me the following day. I was writing my blog and they went for pizza without me, so I walked across the street to what must be the best pizza deal going in Ecuador. I ordered a personal Hawaiian pizza with a tasty passion fruit drink for $3.30 - and joined a group of 6 Brits who were already eating. Found out they were going to the equator the following day and agreed to join the girls at 7:15 the next morning to walk to the market to get fruit. The following morning, bright and early I was walking with Maeve - from Ireland. All of them were headed to Colombia so I was ... read more

I've just had a brilliant (though very tiring) weekend in Cotopaxi National Park. It started with a very early morning on saturday. I left the house at 6am and made my way to the South American Explorers Clubhouse in Quito. After introductions and a run through of the plan for the weekend we set off for Cotapaxi National Park. We arrived at Languna de Limpiopunga (3,800m the highest I'd ever been though not for long!) with the sun shining and blue skies. We set off along the lake towards Ruimiñahui (Central peak, 4,631m). Mark (one of the guides) setted a slow place, due to the altitude, as we meandered through the paramo and then headed up to the top of a grassy ridge. Here we had a rest taking in the views and eating some of ... read more