We left our place relatively early to catch the trolley in order to get to the bus terminal almost 1 hour away. Just before arriving to the station, we happened to pass a couple getting into a cab bound for... Did we hear it right?... The south bus terminal. Perfect. We asked if we could share the ride and the cost ( to their pleasure) and in the process get there much quicker. They turned out to be a Dutch couple traveling around Ecuador on a 3 week stint. A new country represented during our travels. There was a bit of commotion at the bus terminal as our bus was in high demand. Cola! Cola! doesnt mean that the people wanted a soda, they were shouting Line! Line! To all the cutters who were sneaking ahead of the rest. But finally off to Machachi the town at the entrance to Cotapaxi National Park. Oh, but the bus driver passed it up by 7 miles. Shoot. Caught a bus back to the entrance for another 50 cents apiece. Next came the $20 per person one way truck ride to the base of the volcano, or so they wanted. But we protested with our thumbs and hitched up the 40 minutes with a quito couple in their economy car. Jacqueline and Julio became our friends for the whole day.
We first hiked around a highland lake surrounded by feral horses, highland gulls, and chilly altiplano winds finding mysterious closing wild flowers and fresh mountain streams. The view of cotapaxi just across the plain would fade in and out sometimes making for some magnificent panoramas. And nothing quite grows well at 4000 meters so the ground was only covered with primitive plants, a few grasses and definitely no trees. At 4300 it gets more extraterrestrial. Nothing exists but volcanic debris and a constant mist. We worked our way up to about 4400 with the car until the lack of oxygen and traction took its toll on the tiny automobile. The quitoans were prepared of course with heavy coats and extra layers while anna just decided to use the car as her refuge and i walked out the door with her sweater on and a cheap stocking cap i bought at the base with a baseball cap, as luck would have it, that just blew itself to my feet. At 4400 meters it gets extremely hard to breath and we had 400 to go to get to our destination, a mountain refuge just below the snow line for the mountaineers who are intent to make it to the top. It was cold wet and the ground was loose, but my time in the sand dunes in michigan really helped. 1 1/2 hours to go 400 meters up in elevation. To celebrate we drank a hot chocolate and i swapped some stories with a canadian, and 2 scots who were leaving that night at midnight to summit Cotapaxi with a local guide. 5 more hours in knee deep snow.
Scott at the top
Well needless to say, the way down was a bit easier and more like skiing than walking. We met back up with anna, cranked up the heat and let gravity take us back down to Pan American highway. We took our new friends up on an offer to go to a nearby town, Latacunga, for some traditional South Sierra style cuisine because we were starving. Hunks of pork over a bed of everything fried. Throw in some salty half cooked popcorn, and you have yourself a latacungan heart attack. Ah, food.
Our new friends and us
So we spent a spectacular day all for the $8 apiece that just last night we had haggled from our friendly host in Quito, Yoyi.
Our week wait in quito is over now, however. Tomorrow we are excited to part for the Galapagos Islands where we hop on a boat for 8 days of evolutionary wonders in a remote volcanic archipelago. No internet, so we will see you in a week and a half. Bon voyage!
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