Cotopaxi

Quite literally one volcano over from Quito, to the southeast, lies an expansive plateau valley nestled between similar giants. What we call volcano valley, and what the world calls Cotopaxi National Park, was a landscape unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

We booked a trip with our hostel to their sister location, Secret Garden Cotopaxi. At the base of the extinct giant Pasachoa lies a little hacienda, a main cookhouse and living area, and multiple dorm and bathroom buildings. A nice garden that’s tended to, a swing, and a field of llama’s that will swarm when you approach with banana peels all rest in between the mortar. We called this place home for two nights.

Soon after we arrived to adult summer camp, we all donned rubber boots for a walk up to a waterfall. Plodding through a small stream for an hour, we eventually arrived at a splendid waterfall with a nice swimming area. Myself and two other likeminded boyish men, Vincent and Culle, decided we had to swim in it, and we all jumped or waded into the pool. It was absolutely frigid. This wasn’t fed by rainwater, oh no, some glacier somewhere was leaking over the rocks. We all had a quick shower and ran out into the warmth (if you could call it that, up at 3500m it was around 15 Celsius) of our clothes. Definitely worth it though.

The package deal we have out here includes all food. We all get served dinner at the same time, around seven or so, on two long tables. There’s maybe 50 guests out in the wild at any given time, so its easy to manage. After a little hot tub bath, we spent the evening socializing with other guests, making friends and forming plans for the next couple days. There were many hikes and adventures to attend to over the next days.

We decided our first adventure would the Cotopaxi volcano itself. We weren’t going to the top, it was erupting at the time (nothing bad, just toxic fumes), plus its really high up. We instead were going to hike to base camp and then a glacier, if weather was permitting. We had our hesitations, as the group that went the day before (and after as it turns out) experienced a blizzard. The only clouds we experienced were on the drive to the parking lot. We got absurdly lucky. Even the guides were raving about the weather. I don’t know what we did to deserve the day, but it was perfect.

The hike was tough though. We were above 4800m the whole time, and oxygen is scarce. The wind was howling over the sides of the volcano, making one side of the switchback hell and the other heaven. We were all five layers deep into clothes, but our group of twelve persevered. Every time we weren’t having a good time, you just took a look at the view, and it was instantly better.

The glacier was cool. You don’t get a great view of it up close, but you can see how vast it extends. The crumble of rock intermingled with the ice and snow was really cool. We lost three on our way to the glacier, they all opted to hang out at base camp with snacks and coca tea. We eventually joined them, before heading back down and meeting a fox.

The whole hike was magnificent. I cannot understate how incredibly lucky we were to have no clouds anywhere. Many were inspired by us to go to Cotopaxi the next day, and they got rewarded with sleet instead of views. That made for fun after hike conversation. But the day was once in a lifetime luck.

Early to bed and early to rise in volcano valley. Out of all of the different options we had, we decided for Pasachoa (it was free). We had a large group, 20 or so with us. The majority of our group from the day before, and a bunch of newcomers. We hauled it up 700m to the top, making it half an hour faster than normal, losing no one. Good for us I guess. This hike was less stunning than Cotopaxi thanks to the clouds that had invaded, but it was worthy seeing the valley from the other side. The hostel dogs joined us for the hike too, running through the grass, attempting to hunt, and generally making sure that everyone was in a group, and no-one got lost.

A group did get lost though. With a large group you have the quick people at the front, and the slow ones at the back. Over half an hour or so, they begin to separate, and Cam and I found ourselves in the middle a lot of the time. We lost the front group as we entered the forest, and then became the de-facto guides, following the dogs. The slow pack was in our hands, as we tried to locate the group ahead.

The group ahead located us. They lost the trail, and through lots of shouting, they bushwhacked down the hill to us. Cam became the guide we never knew we needed down the hill. There were no worries after that, though with every hike, there’s a lot of false endings.

Out time in Cotopaxi was magnificent. The friends we made there we can only hope we run into them later in the trip. We all swapped stories and travel tales in the evenings, offering suggestions and recommendations to everywhere in the country. Hardship makes fast bonding, and when you all can’t breathe together, that happens quick. We can only hope the hiking later in the trip parallels what we experienced here.

Back to Quito now for some celebrations! Lets celebrate together there!