Cotopaxi National Park

On Tueday we left Quito to go to Cotopaxi National Park. On embarking the bus I had the fortunate pleasure of being sat next to a lovely racist who seemed to be having a particularly bad day. For some reason she seemed to take exception to the fact that she was sitting next to a foreigner and from what I could gather thought that Adrian and I should sit on the roof, or at the very least at the back of the bus. However when I tried to move seats she nigh-on put me in a head lock and shoved me backdown - I think we rather bonded after that as she continued to mutter under her breath for the rest of the journey and shout " un dollar" several times in my face when the conductor came to collect the fares - oh I love meeting new people!

The bus dropped us off in the small town of Machachi which is the gateway to the Parque about another 20Km away. To get to where we were staying you have to hail down a passing pick up truck and strike a deal for them to take you onwards. Despite our reservation on doing this , it all went smoothly and we were transported to Tambopaxi Lodge, the only accomodation within the Parque itself. The Lodge is built to be sympathetic to its surroundings - all wood and thatched roof styley.

The Parque is beautifully barren and desolate with rolling hills punctuated by grazing cows, wild horses and a few llamas!! The main reason to visit the parque is the outstanding Cotapaxi volcano which stands at almost 6000 metres, perfectly conical shaped and snow capped, it is breath takingly beautiful and spectacular. After a quick three course lunch we booted up and headed out into the parque... the feeling of isolation was fantastic... there are no roads.. just a few dirt tracks leading to the volcano and other points of beauty. We trekked for an hour and a half to the foot of the volcano and around to a laguna. Whilst the dominating presence of the volcano loomed before us unfortunately the weather was really grey, rainy and very cloudy which tantalisingly cloaked and revealed various parts of the volcano, tormenting and teasing us by not exposing her full pulchritudinous majesty. However we still managed to take some great moody photographs and then headed back to the lodge.

We plumped for the cheaper options and booked to stay in a dorm type room - four sharing. Now, although I haven´t stayed in any dormitories before, I was under the impression that the norm would be either single or bunk beds, so imagine my unbridled delight when we were shown to a room that had one single bed and an enormous bed in which 3 people were to sleep.

With no TV and no other guests staying here, Ad obviously got fed up rather quickly with my inane witterings and we both retired to bed at about 9pm. In the morning we arose early had a good hearty breakfast and decided to set out to climb part way up the volcano. The Lodge itself is approximately an hour and a half walk from Cotopaxi's base and then there is a steady 30 degree inclined road/dirttrack that climbs to 4500 metres to a ´carpark´ area which is another 2 hours walk; onwards from there is a refugio where those that are going to climb to the peak stay over night before setting off for the top in the early hours of the morning: our plan was to get as far as the refugio, which is at 4800 metres above sea level.

The first part of the walk was fine and we reached the base of the volcano in good time. However once we started up the dirt track the lack of oxygen and exertion that was needed to walk continuously uphill it soon become obvious that this was not gonna be easy. We hoped that a passing truck would stop and pick us up and take us to the ´carpark´ however after thumbing a few rarely seen trucks, without success, it looked like we were gonna to have to walk the whole way. To be honest I was knackered and the thought of another 2-3 hours of ardous walking ( that's not even counting the time it was gonna take us to walk all the way back) was soon losing its appeal. Fortunately on about the fourth try a pick up truck stopped to give us alift!!! Yihaaaaa I thought, we are now gonna have it nice and easy: how wrong can one be?

At the carpark it was bitterly cold, snowing and a wind that chilled you straight to the bone. We now had to make the climb to the refugio. We followed other people up this 45 degree slope leading towards our destination. It was difficult to breathe. We plodded on. I couldn´t talk as it was too much of an effort. My legs felt like lead weights. This climb should have taken about half hour. After about 15 minutes I was struggling. I was light headed and I just couldn´t get my breath. Ad was having a hard time but was coping alot better. We plodded on further. I had to stop every 15 steps. My legs just wouldn't work through lack of oxygen. Another ten minutes and i was absolutely exhausted. We were only half way. I now had to stop for a few minutes every 10 steps. I'm now questioning why we are doing this. Plod on. Stopping every five steps. I feel sick and have to lie down. Ad is encouraging me to keep going. I just want to go home. I pick myself up and carry on. Every single step is an effort. The refugio is in sight. I can´t fucking breathe. Am I dying? I can´t cope. Stupid trek. Stupid 20 a day habit for the past 25 years!! One step at a time. Now i think I am dying. I see a light before me. It's the baby Jesus! He looks down on me with a serene smile. I raise a hand towards him and he says unto me " so who´s the cunt now then!! Take that for your rudeness!!" Bastard!

We finally made it to the refugio, but i have to say that it is probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. We stopped and had a well earned cup of hot chocolate and a celebratory cigarette. Just what my lungs needed!

The views around the volcano were obscured by clouds, which was disappointing to say the least. We had nearly killed ourselves and we could only see a hundred yards in front of us. I wanted my money back! even though we hadn´t paid anything. What a swizz. Anyway on chatting to another couple we discovered that we had ascended up the hard way and just around the other side of the volcano was a much easier route that zig-zagged upwards. Bollocks! Anyway we decided to take the easier route down and as we turned a corner the clouds started to dissapate and the full glory of the awesome glaciers clinging to the sides were revealed. They were magnificent, colossal and beautiful. My near death experience was soon forgotten and made worthwhile just to glimpse this natural wonder. Ad took some fantastic photographs and our return journey was made all the easier by the fact that it had been made worthwhile.

We trekked all the way down the volcano and all the way to the lodge. We must have been walking for at least 7 hours. Our feet and legs were killing us, a recurring theme on this trip so far.

That evening we had our dinner and went outside for a fag. The clouds had all disappeared and the night sky was just unbelievably amazing. We have never seen so many stars so bright. Possible because of our altitude we could even make out nebulas ( don´t ask me what they are Ad told me about them). Again Ad took some amazing photos that look like they have been taken by an electronic telescope. This was really one of the highlight of Cotopaxi park. Awesome, beautiful and extremely humbling.

The next morning we arose to a gorgeous cloud free morning that revealed the true majesty of Cotopaxi volcano. This fantastic conical shaped snowcapped mountain against a clear blue sky was what we had been waiting to see. Pictures were taken and we left the National Park content, satisfied and proud of our achievements.