Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi

Woke up early at around 7am
Crawled out of bed a t 7:15
And by 7:30 I was ready ....
My guide did not show up until after 8am ......
Punctuality is not an Ecuadorian forte

Beautiful day
70 degrees, sunny and baby blue sky
The Andes magnificent on either side of the
Pan American highway
They are normally covered under heavy dark clouds invisible
to the eye

You could see all the volcanoes
Pichincha, Imbabura, cayambe,
Antisana illiniza, cotopaxi, Corazon and
countless others that I cannot recall

I never realized that these were part of the Andes range
When I think of the Andes I think of Chile and Patagonia
and impossible huge snow capped tops

My aunt in Tenguel has a beautiful view of them from
her living room balcony that I have always admired
only till recently was I made aware that they were part of the range.

After a little over an hour drive we begin to enter
Parqué Nacional Cotopaxi.
The drive in is beautifully surrounded by pine trees,
chuquirahuas, pumamaquis, romerillo, and capuli.

The first stop is Laguna Limpiopungo. It
is fresh water where small different duck species live.
Not very deep at all about 50cm.
The water is considered toxic due to all the volcanic
gases so no fish live there.
Saw a beautiful golden Andean fox.
Condors used to be common but are now in danger of extinction.
Sincholagua and Rumiahui were also very visible from the lagoon.
There is a small path that leads around the lagoon.
Being there in la Sierra surrounded by the peaceful
tranquility of nature and the fresh air just
ignites and rejuvenates my soul.
It is the only time that my rational and
over analytical brain fully reaffirms my belief in God, in humanity and
most importantly myself.
This here is his church and I can hear his voice singing
within my soul.

The warm sun kissing my skin,
the fresh air filling me with life coursing threw my veins
I am just grateful
Grateful to be alive and trying to
visually experiencing everything all around me
It is so amazing that it overwhelms my senses.
It is too much to take in
All I can do is just breathing smile and pray that
my brain will be able to recall it all in my old age

Laguna Limpiopungo

Wow I am in tears just writing about it now
Hell I was in tears a few times while there too

All I could feel at that moment was
This is what I was born for
This is what life is all about
This is worth living for
It is the only thing worth dying for.
             .            .          .
You are not allowed to stray from the path, unless you want to
see frantic waving from the park ranger.
Along the path is a cold fresh water stream
I figured fuck it...
I sat down beside it and took a cool sip out of my cold
cup hand. It was sweet

I just wanted to walk on forever along the knots and hills
Unfortunately I was not alone
So we headed back to the car and began the bumpy car ride to the parking lot at 4100m above sea level.
Its like a delicate mating dance navigating on the unpaved dirt road

Glacier melting

Would LOVE to make love up on the glacier,
but that is a totally different story in need of a male protagonist....

Anyway
This is my second time hiking up Cotopaxi
The first time I was NOT acclimated and blacked out briefly in the car lot.
I went up the side of the volcano in tears
I was mad at myself because even though my body was fine. My lungs, heart and head were exploding
I was in tears before getting to the refuge
The only thing that kept me from quitting
a few yards from 4810m above sea level
was stubbornness, stupidity and shear raw anger at myself for being so weak.
 It was so bad I had to lay down
backwards feet facing the crater a few time
on the way down.
Had blood in my nose
Never even came close to the glacier.

This time I knew how bad it could be
I was not prepared for how easy it was.
We went straight up the path
It is considered harder because it is not winding up
and it is a steep incline.
I had my pink silk striped scarf wrapped around my face
My alpaca jumper with the hoodie up to keep me warm
and my huge Jackie O like white sunglasses covering my eyes.

It was a very warm day
But the assailant winds make it freezing cold
Managed to buy a pair of alpaca gloves for $3 on the way in
The wind throws small jagged rocks into your face
It makes a hail storm seem like rainbow kisses.

I had the biggest smile on my face the entire way
hidden behind my scarf and warm breath

I COULD BREATH!!!!

The top is visible 

My lungs were fine taking in the crisp mountain air
My heart ....
I couldn't feel my heart
it was not exploding out of my chest.
Occasionally I would get a little dizzy and or light headed.
All that did was remind me to slow down breath deep, relax and admire the view

This taught me the first time I went up
that being the fast or the first to make it
does NOT matter. It is just enough to make it.
It is journey that matters. After all it is not going anywhere
It had been there long before my existence and will continue
to be there long after I perish.

First time it took me over two hours.
This time I made it in one hour, stopping
a lot at my slower than a giant turtle pace

Not bad for the girl that cannot do stairs
But I can conquer mountains.

Cotopaxi is considered the third world's tallest active volcano
It is 5,897 meters above sea level
It is actually an easy mountain to climb
Great for beginners
It is considered an Ultra and is a stratovolcano
Climbing Cotopaxi is alpine F/PD grade.

Made it to the refuge
Ordered hot chocolate and I actually felt
like I could eat. So I ordered the chicken soup
It had no meat was so flavorful hot and the little
noodles are easy to digest. Cost $6.50 bit steep.
Ate my chocolate bars
The chocolate is good for hiking
I think it helps release endorphin's
Coca leaves do nothing. There is a better plant to chew on
but I forgot its name.

You can stay over night at the refuge or about $17 a night
To help acclimate and undertake the midnight hike to the crater.

After resting and squirming like a worm on a hook
I was ready to hike up to the glacier
Left the refuge and less than 50ft away I
got so dizzy I had to sit down.
I thought OMG! I do not think I can do this. I can not
do this. I wanted to run back to the refuge
Probably would have if my head was not spinning.

Instead I just sat there. Enjoying the view and
warm sun. Almost no wind. The volcano blocks it a great deal
at that point. Just another reminder
to slow down.
Cotopaxi is surrounded by red earth. It
is iron that comes out from deep within the earth
when it erupted. Their is light black volcanic rock
and even lighter gray rocks that can be used as pumice stones.

This part of the hike was very easy
You are winding up the mountain at a barely noticeable slope.
Crossed a yummy looking chocolate stream
It looked like and I joked that it belonged to Willy Wonka
And that's what they serve at the refuge

Took me 45minutes to reach the glacier
I recall the glacier being much bigger
I heard it used to begin at the refuge
Global warming is melting it fast
It will be gone completely within the next 20 years
is my unscientific guess.

That thought also brings tears to my heart
Tears of grief and sadness.

I climbed up the glacier
I laid on it
Had it rain down on me I wanted to eat it 
You could see Quito from up their.

After nearly falling into the volcano twice
I bounced into the refuge for a celebratory beer
A can of Pilsner at $2 clear over priced!
But so worth it. Kept my gloves on
in order to hold the icy can

Bounced down the mountain
And I ran back to the car.
Awestruck at the strange motion less cloud formation
ahead of me. It look like you could physically walk across it.

View just past the refuge

The ride back to Quito was still amazingly clear
Even the crater was fully visible.

Got back a little after 5
Thought about napping
Instead I went out
Devoured my I swear to God cracked filled shawarma
Ran into an acquaintance in La Plaza Foch. Had two gin and tonics (two for one $7)

And then karaoke for 3 hours
By 10PM I was in Bungalow 6 and danced non stop till 3am

It feels good to be young, carefree and in the moment