Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi is a stunning snow capped volacno which you can see on clear day from high points in Quito (incuding my bedroom window) you can only climb to the top if you´re an expereinced climber with crampons and ropes and other climby things but us mere mortals, fat blokes and old people can go up as far as the glacier. Another early start but the adventure proper started mid morning when the trailer on our truck came loose so we had to make a quick stop off while it was hammered and soldered back on.

We got driven up to the drop off point on possibly the worst boneshaker ´road´in Ecuador, over boulders and across streams, we were pretty glad to get out and start the hike, it´s only about an hour but up to an altitude of almost 5000m which makes it really hard work. It is hard to catch your breath and just standing still seems to be exhausting but we all made it up to the refuge where the proper climbers spend the night and the rest of us have a nice cooked lunch and a hot chocolate before going down again! Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and we couldn´t see the very peak of the volcano but we could see the glacier and the gouged out paths where the lava flows have carved their way through the rock. It´s been over a hundred years since the last eruption destroyed most of Quito meaning it´s well overdue, so a thunderclap from one of the clouds below us caused a bit of shrieking and nervous laughter from people on the climb and reminded us all that we were actually climbing an active volcano.

After lunch we literally had to run after our guide down the steepest slope (couldn´t stop if you wanted to!) then mountain biked down the rest of the way, 14k of sandy, gritty, lumpy, rocky dirt track with sheer drops on the outside of the track. Not for the faint hearted and I´m a little saddle sore this morning but it was terrific fun and one hell of of an adrenellin rush! Two of the girls came off and got driven down the rest of the way but somehow I managed to stay on (more luck than judgement) and made it down to the lake where there was much kissing of ground and getting breath back before the truck turned up to bump us back home to Quito. Sigh!