Chilcabamba Cotopaxi

... product of a couples dream to own an Eco-farm. So this means no electricity, composting toilet (use your imagination) - although regular flushing ones are available too, vegetable garden and animals roaming around one day that will be on your plate the next day!

Day 2 of our relaxing agenda included a 16km walk up to an amazing view point on the summit of Mount Pasochoa. Breathtaking describes the walk and the view aptly enough ...

... into the park. We passed sunbleached skelatons of cows and llamas that had been picked dry by the Andean condors. The clouds moved quickly over us as we made our way to a pine forest that we were told would make good camping. We reached the forest in time to chop some wood for a fire and set up our tent. We tried to make pasta but because the water boils at such a low temperature at that altitude it came out as a sticky clump ...

... firmly held up by the basket. On the pig were about a dozen carcasses of chickens. The weight of the pig was obvious, as the man was red and sweating profusely, staggering as he attempted to carry the pig 10metres. Around him was an entourage of three people who tried to support the pig from the sides, a man at the back carried a stool, and after about 10metres the man carrying the pig, almost collapsing, rested the basket with the pig on the stool while he ...

... clouds and a light drizzle. The clouds in Ecuador, particularly at these heights (our hostel was at about 3800 m altitude, Cotopaxi peaks just below 6000), come on quickly and thickly. With spirits only slightly dampened by the rain, we piled inside the main building for a tasty home-cooked lunch.
Having finished our meal, we all set off for a short hike to a waterfall. We climbed up and down some beautiful hills, then descended into a mostly drained ...

... climbing up from a gully where I was retrieving a runaway headscarf - absolutely essential wearing in weather like this :)

An hour or so later and we were at the crater. Again it was spectactular: sharp, craggy sides all around falling downwards at a sharp 45degree angle straight to a green-ish looking lake. It looked exactly what you would expect a volcano crater to look like! We took a few photos although difficult to really do it ...

... in the city really), particularly good was Cotopaxi as the sun was going down creating a pink tint to the snow, really beautiful but the drop at the side of the road a bit too deathly to stop for a photo stop so you will have to imagine based on the other photos, bearing in mind our hotel was about 30km from Cotopaxi, not sure how close the road got but maybe about 5km.

We broke the rule of not riding at night as ...

... a measly 500m climb over 2 hours to touch the end of the glacier.

Thank god for that because that in itself I found to be one of the more challenging things I´ve done. Everyone's different so others probably wouldn't think so but the altitude got me really bad. I was dizzy and nauseous almost instantly and suffered really bad cramping. It was bitterly, freezing cold, very windy and raining frozen pellets straight into my face. Despite my gear I ...

... much nicer room, free wifi and we are right in the centre of town. We arrived early so we've already had our lunch, a bargain at 1.50 usd, and now we are relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.

yesterday, because it was fairly overcast most of the day, I very foolishly didn't wear suncream or my hat, resulting in my face being very red and slightly swollen last night. Also, I've broken my sunglasses, so I have no eye protection at the moment, we now have superglue ...

... to get the dog. This was hilarious to us.
Back to Quito for Dinner.
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The next Day we left to Cuenca. First a taxi trip. (for those in know had an interesting conversation with the taxi driver) Oops I forgot my bag so another 50% to the trip. then a 9 hour trip back to Cuenca. So the weekend was a great bonding session, but the long bus trips and the dust from Cotopaxi had left me tired.

... to Cotopaxi National Park. The volcano itself is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, at 5,897m asl. It's almost a perfect cone and has a huge glacier despite being almost on the equator. A very attractive volcano indeed.

We stopped in the paramo for a good view... it was really cloudy so we couldn't see all of the mountain. It cleared somewhat, but only very briefly. And then we drove all the way up to the parking lot at 4500m. From there it ...