Ecuador: Cotopaxi

I left Quito at 7 am to visit Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world. It's last eruption was in 1877 and its pattern of eruption had been on eruption every 100 years. That makes it 40 years overdue! My group consisted of a Argentinian family with a mother and two teenagers, a Brazilian guy, me and the guide. Because the Argentinians didn't speak English and the Brazilian guy and I understood Spanish, the guide gave the tour in Spanish.

We went by van as far as the road went and then walked 1 kilometer to the refuge. The refuge was at almost 16,000 feet so that one kilometer was the longest one in my life. As if the altitude wasn't enough, the trail was volcanic material that made it feel like I was walking up a sand dune. My heart pounded and I gasped for air but slowly step by step I made it. Then it was another half hour of walking to get to the beginning of the glacier. The glacier path had snow mixed with the sandy volcanic soil. What exhilaration to reach the glacier! The trip down was challenging in a different way. Because the ground was so soft and slippery, we had to run/slide all the way down. That was easier on the heart than going up but the injury possibility was greater with the run/slide down the mountain.

When we got back to the parking lot, we had to decide if we wanted to ride bikes down the mountain. Of course I did. When would I get another chance like this. The Argentinian teenage boy was the only other one who was interested so we hopped on the bikes and down we went. Fantastic! Fortunately the brakes worked. We rode about 10 kilometers to a lake, hopped into the van, and returned to Quito. I wonder if I will be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

(All the pictures came from the Internet but my group promised to send me some in an email.)