Cotopaxi: What a sight!

After an early morning wake up call, perhaps a little too early, we went downstairs for another great breakfast at the hotel. We filled up on tropical juices- watermelon, pineapple, orange, melon, and passion fruit- before once again meeting up with Hector and Patricio.

Then it was time to get into the van. We took the Pan-American highway to Cotopaxi National Park before getting off onto “secondary roads”. Bumpy would be an understatement. We were able to enjoy spectacular views and a hike around a mountaintop lake. There were quite a few birds as well as unique endemic plants.

Then things got interesting… We began the ascent to the 19,300 ft tall Cotopaxi volcano. The flora changed dramatically as we climbed higher. Our guide book stated that the top of Cotopaxi “is a place where life ceases to exist.” Although skeptical, we soon found that the plants got smaller and smaller before disappearing completely. We barely noticed this though, because our breaths were taken away the amazing views… the high altitude probably also played a part in taking our breaths away.

After our trip up the snow capped volcano, we headed for lunch at Tambopaxi, a restaurant on the foothills of the volcano. We crossed our fingers again for guinea pig, but we were served a delicious potato soup with avocado. We are all trying to get used to 3 course lunches, but many of us were still full from yesterday.

We then made the 3 hour trip back to the hotel for our last night in Quito. Tomorrow, we will be making our way into the Amazon. The 6 hour trip will be well worth finally seeing the jungle. We will be staying at Cabinas Alinahui and we probably won’t have internet access for a while. Stay tuned though, because we will be keeping notes on our adventures and can’t wait to share photos soon.