A day in the snow!

Exciting news: I’m finally caught up with the blog. What I’m about to recount actually happened TODAY! Of course this won’t last long but I’m pleased anyway.

I’m now a couple of hours outside Quito, in a small town called Latacunga. There’s not much to see here but its the jumping off point for a few things I want to do in the surrounding area.

Today, I took a trip to the snow-capped Volcán Cotopaxi, Ecuador’s second-highest peak (5897m). I'd had second thoughts about the trip when my alarm went off at 7am and I could hear torrential rain outside. I knew we’d have poor visibility and didn’t really fancy hiking through another downpour, after Salento! But I finally forced myself up and into the shower, and I’m very glad I did!

When you get to a certain altitude, the rain gets replaced by snow, so that made things slightly better. It was only a very light flurry of snow and even that stopped as we got even higher. We started our hike at the parking area, at 4500m above sea level and it took us over an hour to climb 300m to the “climber’s refuge” which was at 4800m. 

Setting off

Reaching the Climbers Refuge

Altitude is a funny thing. I was so worried about it before I went to Peru this summer, and was surprised and relieved when I had no problems at all. Same thing today. The only effect is that I can’t move much faster than a snail without getting severely out of breath. But that was fine as we took it nice and slowly, one step at a time. Also I had managed to get hold of some coca leaves to chew. I chewed a LOT of these in Peru and either I have them to thank for not suffering headaches/ sickness, OR its a psychological thing, but either way it was good to have some in my pocket again. It turns out the leaves are illegal here in Ecuador, but I managed to procure some on the black market (= the cafe in the parking area).

Once we got to the refuge it was time for a rest and a packed lunch and I could feel some energy returning to me... despite the lack of oxygen! The next part of the trip was optional: to continue hiking up to 5000m, to touch the edge of the glacier. Before we started out I hadn’t expected to do this part, as I figured I’d be exhausted by this point, but when it came to it I decided to push myself and give it a go. Great decision as shortly after we left the refuge a wild Andean fox crossed right in front of us in the snow. A very cool sight. And a few minutes later the clouds cleared a little and we did get a bit of a view! Not of the summit of Cotopaxi unfortunately, but of the valley below and some other mountains on the horizon. Getting up to the edge of the glacier and being able to touch the ice, was also really cool.

Wild Andean Fox

Glacier AND View!

Of course I didn’t think to take sun-screen with me so I’m now sitting here with a very hot face. Just hoping it will die down by morning.

Goodnight all!