Hotel Cuello de Luna Cotopaxi

... I´ve been at. Strange to be in all weather gear 5 days after swimmers in the Jungle! Looking forward to Argentina even more now!<br><br>We then climbed back down and went mountain biking for 90 minutes through the national park. Despite the dubious safety standards (i.e. no helmet) I blitzed the group, pre trip gymn work finally paying off. Brilliant to be riding through the park in peace in the late afternoon sunshine.

... valuable time, we were only staying one night in Cotopaxi. It was costing $90 for a room for one night but with all meals and snacks included.<br><br>Well it took 45minutes up a cobbled bumpy road to the Secret Garden but the farm was in a fantastic picturesque spot surrounded by 9 volcanoes, dormant of course and with Cotopaxi dominating the view although at this point covered in cloud. Here we met a great bunch of characters, and a reunion with Geoff ...

... plus topped it up a little in Banos.<br><br>What we miss: Jemima<br><br>What we don't miss: Turning our clocks back to instant darkness.<br><br>Ecuador was a fun place to visit bearing some similarities to Peru but maybe a little better off. The places generally were clean and organised, great transport systems and the traffic was a lot more relaxed. People are also really helpful and friendly which made it such a great country to visit ...

... the volcano for a hike with our guide. You can pay to try to hike right to the summit but apparently the success rate isnt the best, its like $140USD and there is also the fact that im one incredibly lazy kid.<br>So we decided simply to hike to the refuge hut and then the glacier. Still no easy feat as we would be reaching about 5000m at the glacier. I was pretty fit before I left, and I still look pretty fit in my photos, but Ive honestly done sweet bugger ...

... cups, pouring the liquid into the cups and offering the drink to participants and some of the on-lookers. On one occasion I was offered and drank this liquid, I can&#8217;t recall the name of it but it had a punch just like oozo or sambukka. By the time the third procession of the carnival took place at twilight, I believe many participants may have been quite intoxicated which is why the third procession of the day is more in a kind of party spirit ...

... imminent demise, should I slip. Thankfully, my oxygen-deprived brain only had enough energy to think about climbing, not falling. <br> After a little under an hour of rock-hugging, we reached what would prove to be our summit; we ended up not able to reach the 4700-meter peak of Ruminahui, because from the direction we came from it would require technical climbing, and we didn´t have the equipment (and I didn´t have the skills). We ate our lunch ...

... to do this, mine had a habit of going on the outside of #1 to nudge it along and this was often on the edge of the cliff side. I realise the horse is not going to just walk off the edge of the cliff... but there was no saddle, no reins, and not much to hold onto and so you really had to work hard to maintain balance. It was precarious at best. But still, I don´t want to complain too much because I was forever grateful for not having to walk ...

... This one has receded quite dramatically in the last couple of years which I think does not bode well for the global environment but it was still amazing. And, incredibly the weather cleared to intermittent sunny skies just briefly while we were reaching the glacier so we had some awesome views to the peak (just a stones 900m throw away...). I loved every minute of it - one of natures beauties!<br><br>The walk down was much faster but still a slow pace ...

... surface all the way along, even the hard shoulder we ride on was good and wide most of the way. lacatunga is at 2800 metres, so I think we may have just undulated today, although it felt as though we dropped more than we gained.<br><br>once you get into the town itself it's quite lovely, lots of old buildings, a lovely Plaza Major (with the usual collection of banks around the perimeter) and narrow streets and pavements, which make it a bit of a nightmare manoeuvring ...

... se leve, on voit la pente sur laquelle on est en train de crapahuter! c raide! on voit pas le sommet, je comprends pourquoi on monte de nuit parce que 5h de jour cest a se tirer une balle. de toute facon avec le soleil pas possible de marcher sur le glacier de jour et linteret est detre la haut pour le levee de soleil.les derniers 200m sont horribles! il nous a fallu 45min environ, on est naze et Sandy a mal au crane, moi g des nausees, y'a de vieilles odeurs de souffre ...