Hi everybody,
Nick and I went to climb Volcan Cotapaxi a bit after after I last wrote. It`s the higest actvive volcano in the world at 5,897 metres. We went for a 3 day guided trip... Just the two of us and the guide. The first day we did an acclimatisation walk from 3,800m to 4,600m and back down to camp at 3,800. It was a 5 hour return walk and quite difficult. We were way above and in the clouds and it was hailing heavily for a while. The top part of the climb was very steep and slippery, but I managed.
The next day we drove to the car park (4,500m) and walked the 300 verticle metres to the Cotapaxi refugio (4,800m) carrying all our stuff, including sleeping bags, crampons, ice axes, clothes, food, snacks etc. Here we bumped into Neil and Greg from our Toucan tour who`d just come back from the summit. They said they`d had perfect weather, and it was one of the most awesome things they`d ever done. After lunch and a rest we walked 15 minutes to a glacier to practice climbing using crampons and ice axe. It was bloody hard work, and it was boiling hot. I was really terrified, because it was so difficult, and when we do the real climb it`s in the dark. After the practice, which went for about 3/4 of an hour, we went back to the refugio to rest. Nicko and I both felt like crap, with bad headaches, and my coughing and runny nose. Obviously, the one day acclimatisation walk wasn't enough for either of us, and we weren't 100% healthy to begin with. I pretty much decided that I was going to pyke out of the real climb.
We woke at midnight and kitted up in our warm gear. I was feeling a bit better, and knew I`d really regret not going, so I decided to climb. It had been snowing since about 5pm. After a revolting breakfast of some disgusting cerial bathed in a chemically pink yogurt, we left the refugio. It was about 1:10am. I didn`t eat much breakfast because it was so gross, and also `cause it was midnight. I also hadn`t eaten much dinner because wasn't well.
We set off, first not needing our crampons, but I used my ice axe to balance in the snow. Some parts were quite steep. When we reached the glaciated part, an hour and a half later, we were at a height of 5,100m, the highest I`ve ever climbed. The guide said that the weather conditions were very bad, as it was still snowing persistantly, and here was the place to decide whether we go on or turn back. I would have gone on if Nicko wanted to. He never got to climb Volcan Villaricca or Mt Aconcagua, and I knew he wanted to climb. So I told him to make the decision and I`d follow suit. He waited to hear what Falsto said, and the guide said he wouldn`t advise us to go any futher, the risk of avalanche being too great. So we turned back, and I was really quite relieved, but a bit disapointed too. Nick felt the same, but it wasn`t a good time, we were both too sick and not acclimatised properly.
On the four or so hour drive back to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, we saw three kids, leading a small herd of cows from one place to another. One little boy was cute, he was riding his bike, but had a cows tail wrapped around his wrist and was being taken for a ride.
We spent the next five days bumming around Quito, Nick really sick, and me just sniffling. Until the absolute bordom got to us, but more about our next outing in the next paragraph. Firstly a few things I've noticed in Quito. Firstly, there is this huge fast food chicken outlet, can't remember what it's called. Anyway, in the doorway from the carpark to the restaurant, there's a fellow dressed up as a chicken and the kids all flock to it and it entertains them and keeps them occupied while the parents wait in the queue to be seated. Fair enough. But within a 5 metre radius from the character is an armed guard. His massive gun, nearly a metre long, isn't concealed or anything. How wierd is that?
Then there's another fast food chicken place called Gus. I think it used to be called Disgustings but they changed the name. I thought it was good value looking at the picture. I should have known better. A bowl of soup, a corn on the cob, rice, beans and two pieces of chicken, for like $USD1.5. At first I thought it was chicken and mushroom soup, and it was alright, but a bit hot. So I put it aside for a bit to eat the chicken, and there on my plate, in addition to the two pieces of chicken, was a third piece, which appeared to be a very small brain. From my soup I filtered out what I thought was a mushroom, nearly threw up and left my entire meal. That was $USD1.5 I can do without.
Also in Quito, and I haven't noticed this any where else, are the strange street signs. Not the local, suburban ones, but the big city sort of ones. Say you're driving into a roundabout, and there's a big sign above the round about, but it doesn't tell you the names of the four or so cross streets originating from it's centre. It tells you the names of streets you can get to by following the road it points to. So one road may have more than one street name pointing to it. It`s really confusing. And they have traffic police for blind drivers. Amazing! At intersections where there are traffic lights in perfect working order, there stands two or three traffic police that blow their whistles and halt or wave traffic on.
After being so bored of being sick we took off on a 4 hour bus ride to a touristy town called Baños for a couple of days. The first day we went on a really long walk from the town, which is located in a valley, up to a cross on a big hill that overlooks the town. From there we cut across the hill range to a statue of the virgin. Neither of the attractions were the least bit exciting, but the walk was lovely. Very difficult to navigate, as every so often there were what looked like short cuts, but you never quite knew where they`d end up, and the tracks forked a lot, and there was a lot of inpenetratable forest land and private farmland. But we finally navigated a way across and then back down hundreds of steep steps back down to the town.
On our second day in Baños we hired bikes. There's a route to a town called Puyo 60km away. We didn't intend to go that far, but we just need to be out in the sunshine and doing some exercise after moping about being sick for so long. We rode to a little town called Rio Verde, or Green River, about 25km from Baños. The ride was mostly down hill, and we rode over a damn, past beautiful waterfalls cascading down the surrounding mountains and we rode through a couple of pitch black traffic tunnels, which were thankfully only one way. We stopped at a 25m bridge and watched people jump and swing from it. The roads were terrible, with pot holes and loose gravel and rocks that made it like trying to cycle on the moon. Every time a vehicle overtook us we'd get an extra layer of uplifted dust in our eyes, and hair, and with the sweat it just caked on our skin and clothes.
The ride was exhausting and we hitched back in a van fitted with a bike rack on top, specifically for people who didn't want to go all the way to Puyo. We had to wait about an hour for enough cyclists to arrive to fill the van but we had the company of the driver`s 5 year old son, Pietro. He kept us entertained and showed us his school text book for science, but being written in Spanish, it was a bit too advanced for us.
Anyway, more soon. Sooner than you think.
Ciao,
Nique
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