March 24, 2012.
Quito.
This is it, the final countdown. Our plan had been to travel around and then
stay in Quito for the last few days to shop and relax. Well, we shopped but we didn’t relax, at least
not today.
We started our day at 8am (well, that’s when we got out of
bed). We had to get to the travel agency
to get our stuff. It was a bit urgent
because my camera memory card is full.
It topped out at the River camp.
I had to use Val’s camera to delete some pictures (remember my camera’s
LCD screen is smashed) so that I wouldn’t miss the chance for photos on our
community visit. I have a second card in
my underwater camera but that was in my bag with Sonia. So we stopped there, back to the hotel. Dropped off laundry, had a Coffee Tree
breakfast and then back to the hostel to mentally prepare ourselves for the Saturday
Market.
I am almost out of money so we stopped by the bank
machine. I took out $300 thinking that
would last until we leave. Ha. It’s all gone. Same for Val.
The market was great. I knew some
things that I wanted. Mostly a sweater
or two (plus one for Tanya, my only friend with the wherewithal to ask me to
pick one up for her) and some alpaca blankets.
But it was a bloodbath (if money were blood). Those tiny Ecuadorian women can sell
anything, at least to me. I was
weak. I was tired. I bought and bought. Jewellery, blankets, coffee, socks, sweaters,
purses, gifts, I don’t even know what all.
We ate some weird street food instead of break for
lunch. It was a bowl of popcorn,
tomatoes, dried bananas, onions, dried corn kernels and sauce. It sounds bizarre, it was bizarre but it was quite tasty.
I didn’t take any pictures at the market but I’m sure there will be some
pictures posted of my awesome new stuff.
When we went back to the laundry to pick up our clothes,
there was another, small, actual artisan market there too. I bought some onion marmalade. It is delish, we had a lot of samples. Then morning purchases dropped, laundry
dropped, we went to the regular (open all days) market. Val found some sweaters there. Now with the many blankets and sweaters, Val
is going to have to find a new bag for our flight home. I didn’t buy as much (but I bought way more in
the morning). A couple of ceramic birds. More coffee, chocolate. A baby llama for Chris.
We had a menu del dia (I don’t even know what it was, meat
stew of some sort) for $2. I seriously
don’t know how a small family restaurant can serve soup, a dinner, real juice
and a dessert for $2. We tip 50%. We got back to the hostel at about 6:30,
exhausted. Val has been watching
American Idol while I uploaded the last post and wrote this one. It is not even 9 pm and I am going to crash. I only got about 5 hours sleep last
night. Plus, we are on the third floor
and I must have gone up and down those stairs 15 or more times today.
Tomorrow, we are going on a day trip to Cotopaxi. Pick up at 6:50 am. So off to bed for me. After Idol ends.
March 25. 8:29 pm.
Cotopaxi (back in Quito).
If there is a hell, my personal one is going to involve
mountains with unstable soil.
We got picked up late because the bus had a flat on the way
to pick us up. It was a long drive to
the mountain, made even longer because we had to stop and get the tire
repaired. So, the plan was to go to Cotopaxi
National park to the parking lot and hike up the Refugio (Refuge, basically
base camp) then return to the bus and mountain bike down to a lagoon for pick
up and home. Who have I become that I
even agreed to such a plan.
Our group was an interesting mix. A Canadian girl, Diane, a Dutch girl, Rose, a
couple of guys from Venezuela and some sundry others. We finally made it to the
parking lot, after traveling 16 km from the highway over logging roads. We started up and I was immediately out of
breath. We were at 4500 meters. But I was convinced by Val and the guide that
I could do it, despite my better judgement.
It didn’t look too far but it was steep.
Our guide, Juan Carlos, said it is only 300 meters. What I didn’t figure out until the end of the
day was that he wasn’t talking distance, he was using altitude. So, it wasn’t 300 meters away, it was 300
meters higher than where we were starting.
The way up was a straight shot up a dirt road. How hard could that be? Well, let me tell you: it was brutal. I think today was the same amount of energy
expended as the Andean hike, just compressed into half the time. The air was so thin. The dirt on the road turned out to be loose
sand and gravel. It was so hard to walk
on. Imagine super soft beach sand, add
rocks and make it a 40% grade. Rose, the
Venezuelans, and Val and I tailed the others.
Poor Rose, she was having a very hard time. We kept thinking she was going to pass out
and keel over. She was weaving and
staggering. It took over an hour to get
to the base camp. The view was
beautiful, but really it didn’t change much from the parking lot so the payoff
wasn’t great. This was another example
of a day less about enjoying ourselves than about challenging ourselves. I just
kept my eye on the goal, the Refugio. It
seemed so close but took so long to reach.
When we finally made it to the hut (actually a rather large
building with a huge yellow roof), we went to the bathroom and listened to
other hikers puke. At least we didn’t
throw up. We were at over 4800 meters. I was developing a nice deep hack, which I
later learned is so common it has a name, the Cotopaxi Cough. I couldn’t even chuckle without coughing up
a lung. And it was cold, 4
degrees. I got to wear my new alpaca
sweater (featured greatly in photos). The
fog kept rolling in and out, exposing the summit of the volcano, lovely glowing
white.
Cotapaxi:
On the way up
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The landscape on the way there |
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Our first view of the mountain |
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Our Van, with bikes on top |
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the parking lot for our ascent to the Refugio |
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Here we go, that's the trail in the background |
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The bottom, it doesn't look so bad here. But doesn't it look cold? That's because it was. |
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So far so good. That's Rose beside me. |
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The Argentinians on the right, our guide on the left. Our usual view, looking up our group. |
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The view looking back. |
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Hard to see, but this is our first view of the Refugio. |
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She looks like she is happily posing, but this was really an excuse to rest. |
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Finally the clouds parted and we could see the summit. Beautiful |
The Refugio
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It looks so close but it was still 30 minutes (or more) away at this point. Really! |
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I made it!! |
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Proof |
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Val and Rose coming up behind. Val stayed with Rose to make sure she didn't die. |
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Inside. Warm. Sitting on real benches. |
We had a nice rest in the hut and then Juan Carlos suggested we should continue on for another 100 meters to the glacier. Still not getting the code of altitude vs distance, 100 meters seemed ok. And Juan Carlos said it was easier than the first part. Well, of course, by now you know what easy means here. It means: not easy. Granted, it wasn’t as steep but the path was covered in snow. Again, brutal. The same five straggled behind. We were pretty close but we came upon a bunch of rocks and Rose looked like she was going to die, so Val, I and Rose sat out the last 20 meters. I watched the others up above. While the rest of the group was above us, it was foggy, no view. Then they started to come back and they were all sliding down an icy rock. I was so glad to be on my rock seat. As it turned out, they didn’t make it to the glacier either.
The next leg: onward to the glacier.
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It looks desolate, but it was very beautiful |
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I can't believe how much I am smiling, I could barely breath. Maybe I was just happy to stop for a minute |
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The path. Do you see a path? I couldn't see a path. |
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Just follow the other hikers, that's the path. |
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I'm done. I will wait on this rock until it is time to turn around or until I freeze on the spot. |
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Val too. |
When they reached us again, we started back down.And the sun came out.Which made the snow very slippery.I fell down a couple of times. Plus, I was so tired, my legs were getting wobbly.We all had bought chocolate bars on the way up.I kept trying to remember to eat a bit of mine.It was hard to eat and really hard to drink water.One cool thing though.We saw a fox.He crossed our path a couple of times.Juan Carlos told us there was a family of three on the mountain.That was a nice bonus. Oh, another place with Condors that I didn’t see.We made it back to the Refugio and then headed down to the bus.It wasn’t as bad as up, but it was still super hard going down.My shoes were full of sand and rocks. I managed to stay upright though for the rest of the time on that horrible, crumbly, loose dirt road.
The Fox
I finally made it back to the bus, where everyone was
putting on their bike helmets. The bike
ride was supposed to be 12 kms, 9 or so downhill, the rest on level ground to
the lagoon. But, just as I was reaching
the bus, a huge black cloud rolled in and massive booms of thunder
started. As the guide and the driver
were taking down the bikes from the roof of the bus, it started to hail. Big pelting hail. Just standing there, it was biting against my
face. I looked down the hill and could
see that it was raining at lower levels.
Nope, I was out. Val folded when
I did.
To bike or not to bike
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That's hail swirling around |
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Nope, not gonna happen |
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The rescue. It was raining so hard, they all tried to huddle under that tiny roof.
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More Cotapaxi pictures (as we drove away).
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Wild horses live in the plains below the mountain |
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Notice the condor. hmmph |
But the rest of the group went forth. Juan Carlos didn’t go. Val asked him why not. He said, of course not, it is raining. We felt a bit wimpy. But it was horrible out. We stayed in the van to follow the
bicyclists. Then we had to pick up Rose
on the way. Then one of the
Venezuelans. As we were driving, the
hail turned to rain and started to come down even harder. The dips in the road were filling with
water. They were beyond puddles, I would
call them ponds. At about the half-way
point, we came upon the rest of the group, huddled under a sign with a tiny
roof. They were drenched. And miserable. As soon as we opened the bus door, they all
piled in and said we had made the right decision. They were soaked through and freezing. Val and I already were happy with not going,
but now we were even happier not to be in their shoes. One last girl, Laura, an Australian, had
carried on alone to the lagoon but had to be rescued by strangers who drove her
back to the bus. We had to go and pick
up her bike. We found the bike being
ridden by some Ecuadorian visitors to the lagoon. Also, there was a new bird there, an Andean
Gull.
We were running very late.
We were supposed to go for lunch after the bike ride, around 3pm. We finally arrived at the restaurant at 5:15.
We were all ravenous. All we had to eat
all day was my chocolate bar and some sugar covered peanuts that Val had
bought. Chicken in BBQ sauce. It was delicious. Or not, we were so happy to have food, it
wouldn’t have mattered.
We reached our hostel around 7:30 and we watched the results
show from last night’s American Idol.
That show is very addictive. Now
Val is watching a dance show. And I am
going to read a bit and hopefully finish my book. I don’t want to bring The Onion Field home,
it just isn’t that good.
March 26. 8:25 pm.
Quito.
It is our last full day today. We needed to find Val a new bag because she
had bought way too much to try to fit into her backpack. We decided to start our day with a Coffee
Tree coffee and continental breakfast.
But the coffee machine was broken.
We were so disappointed, we wandered around for about 15 minutes trying
to figure out what to do. It was kind of
sad. Eventually, we just went back and
had tea with our breakfast. TEA!!! But we came up with a plan B. Return to the Basilica coffee shop that we
had visited on our first day in Quito (so long ago) and have another delicious mocha. Plus, bonus, it is also a gift shop. A few more things bought. Oh, did I mention the stop at a bank machine
to replenish the coffers.
Then we slowly made our way toward Old town. We just turned every time we saw a church
spire, keeping our eye out for a place that might sell a huge suitcase. We happened upon a market for locals, lots of
plastics and kitchen gadgets. But this
market was particularly cool. There was
lots of metal work going on. Men welding
stuff. And stalls with used clothes and
shoes. There were a few used bags but
none were quite right. But then we found
it. A giant duffle bag. Pink and green stripes with only a couple of holes
and a musty smell. For cheap. Perfect.
A bit more shopping. I found a beautiful ceramic hummingbird
that I loved so I bought it. We ended
our morning shop at a supermarket where we bought weird stuff because we are
insane and have no concept of weight or space needed in luggage. Then another visit to the tourist market in
the afternoon where I bought a nice little gift for Kirsten and Tommy to try to
thank them again for contributing to this computer. I love having my little notebook, it makes
the blog so much easier. I can`t imagine
traveling without it on future trips.
Anyway. We had dinner
at our Mexican restaurant again, fajitas with extra guacamole again. It is like a revisit of our first day
here. Back in our room, we just tried a
pre-pack. My extra bag ripped open at
the top. There will be some duct tape
involved in my luggage. I have three
bags. One checked, one carry-on and one ridiculously
huge ‘personal bag’ full of alpaca blankets. That counts as a purse,
right?
Our last day in Quito (my last four photos)
We went on Air Canada’s website this morning to see what our
baggage allowance is. As usual the info
is clear as mud. AC allows one checked
bag up to 50lbs, plus the carry-on and personal bag. An extra bag is $70. But, if we start our trip with another carrier
(we are, Avianca) they will determine our baggage allowance for the trip. So we checked Avianca. They allow TWO checked bags of up to 70lbs
EACH!! But, back at the AC website, they
mention that if we have to recheck our bags, we might have to follow AC
rules. We do have to recheck our bags
because we have to go through customs in Toronto. But, for some reason, a second bag for
domestic flights is only $20. But will
we be domestic or international at that point.
Ack. Air Canada (shake fist in air)! It is just too confusing so we are just going
with one checked bag each, although Val’s is gi-normous. And I am saddled with two bulky carry-ons,
neither of which has a functioning zipper (one is a grocery bag). Those
of you who get an alpaca blanket for Christmas better love it.
Medical updates: Val's feet and legs are recovering nicely and peeling up disgustingly. Tummy trouble overcome. And her cough from the beginning of our visit is long gone. My cough has diminished greatly since I descended from 5000m. and finally, the radiant cat is alive and well back home.
I am going to post this now and then go to bed. Next time you hear from me, I will be back in
Victoria, enjoying sleeping in my own bed, with clean pajamas on, and two angry
cats ignoring me to teach me a lesson about leaving them with Chris who ‘tortures’
them with attention and wet food (or so they will claim).
Thanks for reading this beast. Pictures next week hopefully.