Escaping Quito to climb an active volcano

I’ve been dying to get out of Quito to do something adventurous, breathe clean air, and take some photos of the beautiful landscape in Ecuador without the fear of having my camera stolen.  A one-day tour to Cotopaxi for only $35 was just what I needed.  On Friday, I left with a small tour at 7am to Cotopaxi.  It had been raining for a week straight without any hint of sun, so I was worried that I might not get the experience I was hoping for.  Luckily, there was no rain, and it was the first day all week that the clouds cleared and the sun peaked through to get some gorgeous views of the top of the volcano.

[singlepic id=69 h=180 w=240 mode=web20 float=left]From Quito, we took the Panamerican Highway, which is called Avenida de Los Volcanes here, and it is the only part of the Panamerican Highway in South America that actually runs through the middle of the Andes mountains rather than beside them.  It makes for spectacular views of the surrounding volcanoes.  Thanks to our tour guide, Luis, I now know that Ecuador has 98 volcanoes, 16 of which are active, including Cotopaxi.  Cotopaxi last erupted 106 years ago, and it is due to erupt every 100 years.  Hmmm…. did the math and started to get a little nervous about climbing this active volcano.  Another random fact I learned is that Ecuador is one of the biggest exporters of roses and many go to the US.  The next time you buy a dozen roses, just think that 40 roses cost about $3.  Back to the main topic…

I’ve never really done any high-altitude climbing before, but I’ve received lots of advice from friends.  Walk slowly.  Just focus on your steps; don’t look up towards your destination.  Drink a lot of water.  I did all of those things, but it was still incredibly difficult.  After the first 10 steps, I felt extremely tired and winded, and I started to understand what they say about the effects of high altitudes.  The parking lot was at 4500 meters (almost 14,800 feet), and we hiked up to 4800 meters (almost 15,800 feet).  Plus, we were hiking in 20 centimeters of snow which is not normal.  It has been unusually cold here the past week.  We could barely see anything in front of us because we were in a cloud.  And when the clouds cleared, we couldn’t see because the sun was glaring off of the snow (glad I brought my polarized sun glasses).  Another side effect of the sun reflecting against the snow was the extreme heat when the clouds cleared.  About halfway to the refuge, I felt like my skin was on fire, and I had to strip down to short sleeves and take off my hat and gloves.

[singlepic id=63 h=180 w=240 mode=web20 float=right]After the long, hard climb we were rewarded with amazing views of the summit and a delicious, enormous lunch of freshly-made guacamole, croissants, meat, cheese, ramen noodle soup, coconut flavored cookies, Doritos and hot chocolate.  That may sound like an odd combination, but let me assure you it was fantastic and our whole group devoured it.  I’m pretty sure I ate about 3000 calories worth of food because I think that’s how many calories I burned climbing Cotopaxi.

Usually after lunch at the refuge, people hike another 200 meters in altitude to 5000 meters, but the guides warned that there was 1 meter of snow past the refuge.  We decided to pass on that.  Plus, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it ten more feet after all of the food I ate.

[singlepic id=68 h=180 w=240 mode=web20 float=left]Part 2 of the Cotopaxi tour was biking down the mountain.  The bike ride was so exhilarating; definitely not for the faint of heart.  It was challenging because it was a steep descent, and the road was very rough.  There were amazing views of the valley and the laguna.  Definitely worth the risk of breaking a few bones

Click here to see photos from my trip to Cotopaxi.