Clemence and I moved to Iga's hostel in the morning. Then the husband, Geraldo, took us to Cotopaxi, about an hour away.
Cotopaxi is the 2nd highest active volcano peak in the world at over 20,000 feet. The last eruption occurred in 1904. The volcano erupts about every 100 years - luckily today was not the day to end the dry spell. We entered the park (about 10,000 feet altitude) and got there required guide for all foreign visitors (gotta keep the tourist trade healthy).
We headed for Cotopaxi. All along, we had been warned that it's possible we won't see the peak due to weather (November is their winter, and the worst for weather). We see the top trying to peek out on the way, but the clouds stubbornly refuse to leave.
We drove through the caldera. for what seemed forever. The scenery was pretty, but got redundant after a while. On the way, we saw an extinct volcano (there are actually several volcanoes in the area, just not quite as high). The other volcano we saw the most was Ruminahu, the highest volcano i noticed without snow. There was another volcano ( can't remember the name) with snow at the top - by snow, I really mean glaciers.
We stopped part way up the volcano for a short walk to a better vantage point. It may not have been long in distance, but it sure was in time. Geraldo said 10 minutes, which Iga did, but not me - I stopped a few times. The walk started at 14,000 feet then I climbed to about 14,500 feet (walk started near to of picture). I haven't had a huge issue with climbing in Quito (over 9,000 feet elev.)- not as good at home, but more than respectable. But at 14k, I not only struggled with climbing, but was feeling dizzy (no comments please).
We got lucky - as we were walking, the volcano top which had been under clouds midst of the morning completely cleared, and stayed that way until we drove away. On the road Dldown, we saw a hawk and a falcon. We stopped at a lagoon at the base of the Caldera for a few minutes, and I got a picture of an Andean gull.
After a quick lunch of potato soup, were headed our of the park and home. Although we did make Geraldo stop before were got on the highway to let us take a picture of an even tree with needles that are upside down (Iga called it a weeping fir).
We got back in tune to go check our a couple of more churches in Old Town. We went to one church, which was okay. Then went to the Compania de Jesus, a baroque style church, which shadowed every other church. The walls are covered with 700 tons of 24 craft gold leaf. The whole church was a piece of art. (picture not mine)
Clemence and I then grabbed dinner and headed home. Clemence leaves tomorrow to go to another city. So that leaves Iga and I. We are now going to visit the cake car to the top of Quito, then take a bus to the equator. We are also going top look go a tour company to find something to do on Wednesday before we leave in the evening. Honestly, I've seen all of Quito I wasn't to see, and the one thing I'd short of like to do has issues.
That's it for now
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