Cotopaxi

From Ecuador

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This morning I had a great breakfast of tortillas (potatoes mashed and fried) and eggs. Eggs and potatoes have been a staple meal for me here. People in Ecuador do not seem to get what ¨no carne¨means or vegetariano. Today I heard a story of a girl who asked for them to take the meat off a kabab. She saw what she thought was a carrot on it but it turned out to be a sausage.

I then headed on on a tour to Cotopaxi. It is one of 17 active volcanos in Ecuador and I don´t think those include the Galapagos Islands. Well as my luck goes it was a cloudy day. However there were tons of wildflowers which I love. The guide showed me some blueberries. He then had two in his hand and ate one. When I put the other in my mouth he said ¨no¨. It turns out to be a drug berry which I had missed. My spanish is not what it used to be. I looked at the bush later and the leaves were almost identical. The berries were only slightly different.

We went up to the upper parking lot at something like 4500m and hike up to the refugio. On the way we saw some wild horses. It was a steep hike and it started snowing lightly. The refugio is kind of like huts in New Zealand or the chalets in Glacier NP. They have beds. They also have a kitchen and a small staff. I got a cup of hot chocolate for $1. We then hiked up to the edge of the glacier at 5000m. I have to say that breathing at this point was labored at best. I could see the edge of the glacier but not muc more because it was really snowing at his point. We headed back down to the refugio and waited to see if it would clear. It didn´t. We walked down in white snow on black lava rock. It was pretty but it was disappointing not to see the mountain. Once at the bottom as luck would have it, it started to clear. We still couldn´t see the top of the mountain but we could see the lower glaciers. Maybe would should have waited a little longer. The amazing thing about these glaciers is they are on red lava rock. The contrast between the white glacier, the red rock and the blue sky was very pretty.

We then headed to Laguna Limpiopungo and I did a short hike around the lake. I saw several birds and a rabbit. It was nice. I am now back in Latacungs and heading to Riobamba in the morning.