Cotopaxi

Tuesday 1^st November – Galapagos?

This was a day of planning.  It’s time to get out of Quito.  Spent the day in the Mariscal area of Quito along with Elisha, Chris and William.  Chris was planning his climb of Chimbarazo after having completed Cotopaxi.  That’ll be me some day.  While in a few travels agents myself and Elisha investigated the prices for our Galapagos trip.  It’s going to be a lot more than I should spend but it is a once in a lifetime chance.  Will have to check out my finances.  But that can wait until after The Secret Garden at Cotopaxi.  It sounds amazing.  In the middle of nowhere with great views of the volcano and good trekking options.  Going to be leaving for there tomorrow.

After getting back to the hostel a crew of us head out for a bite to eat.  It’s a nightmare as we have to wait two hours for our food to arrive and a crowd of 12 gringos walking around Quito after dark draws far too much attention.  The highlight is the soup.  Julie has order her meal and it comes with a starter of soup.  One of the guys along with us, James, has just travelled 36 hours and is starving, so Julie very kindly hands the soup to him.  After a few mouthfuls, the groan and look of horror on his face is priceless.  A chicken foot has just floated to the top.  And he was once a vegetarian.  It looks vile, like a deformed baby’s hand.  Too good to leave behind so we wrap it up to bring back and photograph.  But I have to say, I tasted the soup and it was really good.

Wednesday 2nd November – The Secret Garden at Cotopaxi

I leave Quito after being there for too many days and head to The Secret Garden at Cotopaxi.  Finally getting into the wilds again.  I get the taxi along with David and Lauren, both from England.  Great guys.  We arrive at the hostel after a very bumpy two hour journey  The rain is pouring from the sky, but that doesn’t matter.  It looks fantastic.  We race from the taxi into the main living room to avoid the rain.  Inside there is a huge open fire blazing, a few sofas with guys relaxing to some chilled out music   It has the feel of an old farmhouse.  We get a bowl of homemade soup which tastes exactly like what my mum used to make every winter.  I could not have arrived in a better place.

The rain continues, accompanied by a thunderstorm, for a few hours.  When it clears Volcán Cotopaxi slowly comes into view.  It’s stunning.  Straight across from the hostel it dominates the skyline with its snow covered slopes.  There are a few smaller peaks on either side, but without snow.  I stand and stare at it for a long time, mesmerized.

Before dinner we chill out in the Jacuzzi with Rich and Rupert, our dorm mates, which has views straight at Cotopaxi. Then after dinner, it’s an easy night.  The dorm is a little house detached from the main building.  It has no electricity – only candle light and for heat there is a wood burner in the middle of the room.  Tomorrow we have an early shout at 6 a.m. to start our action packed days of activities.

Thursday 3rd November – Waterfall Jumping and Mountain Biking

Last night I got two hours sleep.  I think it must be the altitude as we are now are 3450m.  I was bright awake until about 4 a.m. and with a wakeup call at 6 a.m. I struggled out of bed.  But the first trek today knocked all tiredness out of me and woke me up for the day with a jolt. 

At 7.30 a.m. we all headed off for a 45 minute trek to a waterfall.  The altitude made the first part of the walk through forest and rivers pretty tough but we soon acclimatized.  We then arrived at two waterfalls.  The one closest we had to jump off - into freezing cold water.  The jump is about 4m high.  After getting changed and precariously walking barefoot across a rock and mud wall, we arrive at the top of the waterfall.  There were four of us brave (or foolish) enough to do this: me, Lauren, David and Rich.  After mentally preparing myself, when I got to the ledge I decided this is not a good idea.  I held back while the other three stepped forward and leaped off.  Their reaction to the cold was not encouraging, but they all looked like they loved doing it.  Maybe I should just go for it.  then it entered my head that jumping would be much more preferable than attempting the climb back across the rocks.  Plus, I’d be raging at myself for not doing it.  After all this trip is all about challenging myself.  Heights and being suddenly underwater are two things I’m not keen on – this will cover both those fears.  After a few encouraging words from our guide Peter,  I gingerly step forward, look down and jump.  As I hit the water the shock of the cold is instant.  I’m submerged for a few seconds and when I get my head above water I can’t even breath – my whole body has ceased to know how to function.  All I can describe it as is instant hypothermia.  The feeling in all of the toes in my right foot has disappeared..  I swim out of the water and can not stop shaking.  What a rush.  It was amazing.  I am now most certainly wide awake and ready to take on the rest of the day - a trip to the Cotopaxi Refuge.  David and Rich are brave enough to do the jump again, but I’m more than happy to get dressed and warm again. 

After trekking back to the hostel, we almost immediately jump into a van and head off to the Cotopaxi Refuge which is a cabin close to the base camp of Cotopaxi where climbers ready themselves for the hike to the top.  We are dropped off in a car park and have to clamber up a steep path for 45 minutes to reach the Refuge.  After many stops to try to get our next breath we reach the Refuge at a height of 4810m.  After stopping for some tea and cake we head back to the van and it’s time for the mountain biking. 

It’s just over 20 km back to the hostel and the first 10 km are down the side of Cotopaxi – a very steep and winding road (if you can call it a road, bumpy-dirt track would be a more appropriate term).  On the bike, I have to keep my hands on the brakes all the time and that’s not even enough.  The speed that you pick up without even peddling is scary at times.  I love every minute of this.  It’s been so long since I’ve been on a bike.  Towards the end it starts to rain, then pour, then thunder.  There’s mud sparking up everywhere and I get covered from head to toe.  Eventually we approach the hostel and now there are hills to get over.  I’m exhausted and have to get off and push.  Then reach a hill top jump back on, speed down and very quickly fall off after hitting the verge and losing control of the bike.  No damage down.  Get up and finally get back to the hostel.  I need to do more mountain biking.  I almost forgot how much I loved it.

Elisha has now arrived at the hostel too.  After dinner everyone in the hostel sits around the open fire having a few drinks and telling stories of their travels.  Chris, one of the volunteers, tells us how he walked from Georgia to Seattle in the USA.  Not hitchhiking, but walked.  Great stories to tell.  A very interesting guy.

Another volcano hike planned for tomorrow – Pasochoa.

Pichincha - Ecuador

The next few posts will be coming through in small updates until I have caught up.  Here's the first.

Saturday 29^th October – Halloween Party

After waking up far too early and getting an early breakfast I go to venture down to my room again.  At the top of the stairs something starts to happen.  I’m wobbling.  I’m not that hungover am I?  Then the fridge at the bottom of the stairs starts rattling and moving followed by then lots of stuff in the kitchen.  Earthquake!  It only lasts about two or three seconds, but I have finally felt my first earthquake.  It was pretty cool. 

Tibo, Valentine and Julie, who I met last night, are wandering over to the park and the markets so I join them.  All the stalls are selling traditional indigenous goods: alpaca jumpers, fleeces, hats and scarfs, armbands, leather wallets.  The colours are so vibrant and all the stall owners are dressed in tradition outfits.  Very relaxing.  I buy myself a decoy wallet.  Apparently Quito is well known for its street muggings which are all too common and one tip I was given is to have a decoy wallet with only a few dollars in it to hand over if the worst happens.  After a really good coffee, surprisingly rare in the this part of the world, we head back to the hostel for the Halloween party.

As hard as I try, I can’t pick myself up for the party.  Everyone gets dressed up with some pretty inventive costumes, and have drinks on the rooftop terrace before heading into town to continue the festivities.  But I decide I need and early night, and rather boringly good to bed.  Things are starting to catch up with me.

Sunday 30^th October - Dry Sundays

Quito, and it seems the whole of Ecuador, comes to a standstill on a Sunday.  Nothing is open.  No drinks after 4 p.m. The only marginally interest thing I do is take a walk to a square where a panpipe band is playing some traditional music.  But in the evening I manage to find a few people who are going to get the TeleferiQo to climb Volcán Pichincha.  The TeleferiQo will takes up to an altitude of 4100m, after which it will be a three hour hike to the summit at height of 4698m.

Another bonus to staying in The Secret Garden is good music, finally.  After weeks of torture, the music playing here is fantastic: Caribou, Four Tet, Jane’s Addiction, Band of Horses, Nine Inch Nails.

Monday 31^st October – Pichincha - A Breathless Halloween Climb

It’s Halloween and no better way to spend it than climbing my first volcano for a few weeks - Pichincha. Myself, Pete and Vlad get a taxi to the TeleferiQo, a cable car system which takes 20 minutes to get to the starting point of the trek.  These types of cable cars would normally terrify me due to my fear of heights, but I am now really starting to feel that my fear has gone (almost).  After reaching the end of the TeleferiQo, we start out on the trek.  After only a few minutes the altitude already starts to affect my breathing.  At this height, every 100m higher makes a big difference.  The start proves very tough.  There are a few hills we have to get over in the first 20 minutes, each only about 20m high, but steep.  I have to stop several times and I feel like I’m not going to get my next breath.  But it is surprising how quick the body can adapt.  After the initial 30 minutes it starts to ease, but breathing is still tough, and breaks are frequent.  It’s not long before Pete and I lose Vlad.  He powers on and soon disappears up the volcano.  As we walk along, behind us we can look down to see amazing views.  We are surrounded by other peaks and through the gaps see Quito spread out below.  The further up we go, the tougher the terrain gets, but it’s manageable.  There are a few places where the path becomes very narrow but nothing dangerous.  After about two hours we reach the steeper part of the climb.  The ground beneath our feet is more like sand and gravel making it tougher to make progress.  Then the final 20m is solid rock, but almost vertical.  At this stage we are rock climbing more than trekking. Every few metres we stop to catch our breath and prepare ourselves for the next push.  It’s very cold now and even with gloves my hands are numb making it hard to grasp the rocks.  The clouds start to slowly roll up the hill, like ghostly figures racing against us to the top.  Very apt for Halloween.  Finally after two hours and 40 minutes we clamber onto the summit.  It’s a great feeling.  Having just beat the clouds, standing on the small plateau at the top we can see into to the other side of the peak and the valley below.  It was worth every minute to get here.  A small bird lands beside us.  I’m surprised to see such a small bird at this altitude.  This is soon followed by a very large bird of prey.  This begins to circle us several times, checking us out, before landing only metres away. 

We take in the views for 20 minutes and get some much needed rest before beginning our descent.  As we leave the summit, another climber passes us on her way up.  While making our way down we meet her again.  She did the trek in one hour and 45 minutes.  That’s staggeringly quick.  The climb back down is much easier.  We tackle the sand and gravel areas like snow, running in a zigzag motion.  This is not a good method.  At one stage I lose all control of my speed and direction and crash my shin straight into a rock.  It could have been much worse.  Time to take it easy.  After only one hour and 30 minutes we reach the TeleferiQo again at which point I am dragging my legs, barely able to lift them.  Next time I do something like this I know to bring food.  Rookie mistake.

Part of today’s adventure was a test to see how I handled the altitude and whether I’d be fit enough to tackle Cotopaxi.  Although I made it today, Cotopaxi is a whole different story.  I’ve decided that it would just be a little too tough for me at this stage.  I’ll try something like that later in my trip, maybe in Peru.

After getting back to the hostel and getting back to better oxygen levels, I get talking to Elisha, from Perth Australia..  She’s planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands and has convinced me to go.  The Galapagos is somewhere I have wanted to go all my life, but it is very expensive.  It’ll blow out my budget completely.  But then again, when I will ever be so close?  When will I ever have this chance again?  Some big decisions to make. 

The hostel put on a special Halloween dinner tonight: green soup, black witches hair spaghetti and a Bloody Mary.  When chatting to Elisha a bit more over dinner she tells me the best hot chocolate she has ever tasted was in Mello Café in Bundoran, Donegal.  Mello Café is owned by my cousin Caoilfhionn.  Another small world incident.

Bogotá - Columbia

Sunday 23^rd October – Wasted

What a ridiculous waste of a day.  I check-out of Platypus and make my way to La Pinta Hostel.  I get there at about 12 noon to be told that I can’t check-in until 3 p.m.  Columbia is going to be a struggle with the language.  The girl showing me around the hostel knows zero English, and my Spanish is failing me at every turn.  The guided tour involves me nodding at whatever she says and hoping she hasn’t asked a question (she did several times, we muddled through it).  I hang around and get caught up on a few things on the internet, it starts lashing at about 2.30 p.m., finally get allowed into my room at 3 p.m.  There’s one other person in my dorm and I find it very hard to believe that my bed wasn’t ready the minute I first stepped into the hostel.  Now with the weather being awful, I can do nothing else all day.

But the hostel is really good.  Very clean with hot showers - definitely needed as the weather here is the coldest so far due of the altitude of Bogotá – 2600m.  A very secure hostel, and it’s the little touches that make a place.  Each room has a huge locker for storing valuables – with a power socket in it.  Perfect as I can now charge all my stuff – laptop, phone, camera – without having to be right beside it for a few hours.  I know this sounds trivial, but it’s such a good idea.

Think my time in Bogotá will be limited as it’s not really grabbing me and need to head to Ecuador and my next volcanoes.

Monday 24^th October – The Umbrella Business

Time to find out what Bogotá is really all about.  After lots of research last night and this morning I decide to hit the central area around Plaza de Bolivar and visit a few museums.  Museums are usually not what I’m drawn to, but apparently the ones in Bogotá are worth a visit.  But just as I’m about to leave I’m informed by one of the people at the hostel that all museums are closed on a Monday.  This city is really starting to bug me.  But undeterred, I’m going to explore.

I’m reliable informed the walk from the hostel to the central area is about 45 minutes.  That’s a good thing as I need to acclimatize to this altitude – it gets hard to catch your breath after climbing stairs but exercise is supposed to help with this.  After walking for an hour and no sign of anything I’m expecting to see I decide to ask for directions.  It’s easy, ‘¿Dónde está Plaza de Bolivar?’  The man I ask gives me a blank look, so I repeat the question, ‘Ah, el banco’ he replies and proceeds to give me very precise directions to the nearest bank.  I’m curious to know which word in my question even sounded like ‘banco’.  After thanking him and ignoring everything he said, I trudge on, no clue if I’m even walking in the right direction.  After about another 15 minutes, I spot four police officers standing on a corner.  Finally people who can help me.  I ask again, ‘¿Dónde está Plaza de Bolivar?’.  Yet again I’m greeted with blank expressions from all four.  I repeat my question.  In very broken English, one replies, ‘The bank, it is to the left’  ‘WHERE IN MY QUESTION DID I SAY BANCO?  WHERE IN MY QUESTION IS THERE EVEN A WORD THAT SOUNDS LIKE BANCO?  TELL ME – WHERE? WHERE?’  Obviously I’m screaming this in my head as annoying a Bogotá police officer is not high on my list of things to achieve on my travels.  I’m really starting to give up on Spanish.  It just gets so demoralizing.  But, after a few more hand gestures and a map I finally make it to Plaza de Bolivar, exhausted after a one and a half hour walk – but every minute was worth it.

On the walk down the roads were hectic – people and cars everywhere – but as you enter the square, that all disappears.  The traffic is soon a distant hum and the square is peaceful, except for the usual city dwelling pigeons being fed my a few of the locals.  After a brief walk around, I leave the square to the east and walk along a street that has high security all around.  I eventually find out that this is because it leads to the presidential residence.  Not knowing what any of the signs say, I break all the rules – walking on pavements too close to the fence, not going through the right entrances, photographing buildings I’m not allowed to – each time getting a ticking off from a heavily armed guard.

After finishing my wanderings I head into a sandwich shop for a bite to eat at which point a huge rainstorm drenches the city.  It’s brief, but I have thankfully avoided it.  Upon leaving the shop I discover a much hawked item in Bogotá which I never knew about – the umbrella.  It’s insane.  On every corner, at every bus stop, there are people screaming, ‘Paraguas! Paraguas!’  People are bouncing up to you with rucksacks full of them.  It’s impossible to avoid.  It’s hard to believe there could be such a high demand in a city that has rain all the time – surely everyone already has an umbrella?  The thought crossed my mind that if I run out of money, I’ll make my way back to Bogotá and set an umbrella business.  But then I realised that the market is probable already flooded.

After making it back to the hostel I got what I had been craving for days – a hamburger.  It tasted like manna from heaven after days of rice, chicken and beans.

Tuesday 25^th October – Columbian Gold

Walking around Bogotá yesterday it was pretty clear that the street art is something special.  I saw a graffiti tour advertised so decided to take it and find out all the details.  But things didn’t go to plan.  I arrived for the tour and only two people turned up, so it was cancelled.  Hopefully going to try again on Thursday and hope more people turn up.  So with no tour, myself and Marjan (the other person that turned up) decide to check out the Museo de Oro – The Gold Museum.  It has been highly recommended by both all the guide books and everyone else that has been in Bogotá.  And it’s well worth it.  It’s just amazing how much gold is there and that all of it has come from Columbia.  Some of the pieces are so intricate, others are huge and seem to have been used as body pieces or armour (I have no idea – I’m making this up as most of the information was in Spanish and the English text was so small I couldn’t read it).  And to think all this was created thousands of years ago.

After that we head for coffee, drinks and a bite to eat and I now have loads of travel tips for Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia from Marjan as she has already travelled through there.

When I get back to the hostel I have a few drinks with Len and Antti, fail miserably at playing darts, but get yet more ideas for my travels.  Len and Antti are both rock climbers – something I want to try out.  After chatting to them for ages about it, I’m hoping to go to Huaraz in Chile to take some lessons.  The area is supposed to be stunning – high in the Andes with massive mountains over 6000m.  Sounds like the perfect spot for trekking and learning to climb.  Hope it works out.

Wednesday 26^th October – Police Love

High on a mountain overlooking Bogotá at a height of 3200m is Cerro de Monserrate and that is where I go today.  To get there I have to get a cable car and after failing to find the main bus terminal I decide to take the one hour walk into town.  This becomes interesting when I stumble across another student protest.  London, San Jose, Bogotá – there seem to be students protesting all across the globe and somehow I always seem to run into them.  It’s just a small protest so I make my way passed and onwards to the cable car.  But just as I am about to get there I am stopped once more by another student protest.  This is getting weird.  Undeterred, I finally make my way up to Cerro de Monserrate.  The views over Bogotá are fantastic.  The city is huge, something that you don’t appreciate when walking through its streets.  The church is perched at the top of the hill, but walking around the grounds I come across The Stations of the Cross.  I’ve seen this in many churches, but this is something special.  It’s a long-windy-uphill path (difficult to walk up at this altitude) with life-size statues depicting each station.  What detracted from this a little bit were the lights and sparkly decorations being put up around them for Christmas.  A weird juxtaposition of Christmas and Easter.

After walking around, getting lost and constantly getting breathless I decided it was time to head back.  When walking to get the cable car I could hear something from the city below, I wasn’t sure what, but there was definitely something going on.  When I get back down to the city it all became clear.  As I walk over to the main street I come face to face with, yes, another student protest, but this is on a whole new level.  It’s crazy.  There are thousands of students marching down the street, chanting, spray painting the roads, banging drums, dancing.  But it’s all peaceful so I stop to see it pass by.  At a large intersection there’s a line of police officers dressed in riot gear so I decide that’s a good place to view from.  But a few minutes later a group separate themselves from the main protest and race towards the police line – which is about 5m from where I’m standing.  What happened next was not what I expected.  The protesters, instead of attacking the police, start hugging the police and the police start hugging them back.  It’s surreal.  Then as I'm taking a photo I get grabbed from behind.  Not knowing what’s happening, I pull back but realise it was just a few of the protesters grabbing me to join in the hugging. This goes on for a few minutes before the protesters rejoin the main march.  Then a few minutes after this the same thing happens except they run at a parked police van, surround it and lay their hands on it – a few climb on top and wave their banners.  This is not the type of protests I’m used to seeing.  After watching for another few minutes it’s time for me to head back to the hostel, but I soon discover this is not possible.  Trying to walk in the opposite direction of the march is difficult, and then I come across another police line.  A girl runs from the crowd and starts showering them with confetti.  Then things take a nasty turn.  A few missiles are thrown from the crowd at the police, then paint (or a strawberry milkshake, not quite sure which).  This is immediately met with jeers from protesters and onlookers alike, and a lot of finger wagging and as quick as it started the violent behaviour ends.  But I am left in the situation of not knowing whether to pass the police line in case it starts up again.  Getting hit with a missile is not what I want.  But a free strawberry milkshake would be nice.  After a few minutes the atmosphere has changed to the initial mood of happy protesting and I finally make my way back to the hostel.  During all of this can be heard the faint shouts of ‘Paraguas! Paraguas!’

Back at the hostel it was time for a BBQ,  Antti and Len had done the shopping, lit the fire, cooked the food, and I ate.  My skills were the washing up.  Great night with some metal music to help us along the way.  Tomorrow it’s time to do the graffiti tour again and find a metal bar to get some decent music.

Thursday 27^th October – Bogotá Graffiti Tour

Today the graffiti tour happened.  Len and Antti came along too so we definitely had the numbers.  It was excellent.  Christian (from Sydney but now living in Bogotá) was the tour guide and had loads of details on the different artists – their backgrounds, their styles, where they were from, their collaborations.  Seeing street art and admiring it is one thing, but getting the extra details makes a big difference.  The tours started in the La Candelaria area.  Yesterday I had spotted some graffiti I recognised from Barcelona and it turns out the artist, Pez, is from Barcelona but has done work in Bogotá too.  We then got a bus to another area near a military base which has loads of space where the graffiti artists could show off their work.  Some of the work is amazing - from the abstract tags to very simple but effective designs.  If in Bogotá, do this tour.  It’s the highlight of my time in the city.  Check it out here - http://bogotagraffiti.com/ - http://www.facebook.com/bogotagraffiti

In the evening, myself and Antti went on our mission for a metal bar.  No success at the start, but finally stumbled across an extreme metal bar.  Goodbye reggaeton.  After a while we change to another bar and I get chatting to Marcela, a student in Bogotá, and ask the full details of the protests yesterday.  After speaking to a few others as well, I discover that a few weeks ago a similar protest turned very nasty and lots of damage was caused by the protesters and a lot of confrontation with the police, so this time the students wanted to make sure that didn’t happen and the reason for protesting was reported, not the violence – so that’s what all the police love was about.

Today I booked my flight for Quito, Ecuador.  I think I may have jumped the gun on that decision.  I’m really starting to like Bogotá plus I have found out that Halloween, my favourite time of the year, is huge in Columbia.  But I have to move on

Friday 28^th October – Quito Bound

Seriously, you could not make this stuff up.  I get to the airport for my flight to Quito and check in.  All good.  I get through immigration.  All good.  I get to security, they scan my bag.  Problems.  They are only interested in one specific side pocket which they ask me to open.  In this pocket I have a book, a small pair of binoculars and a dome magnifying glass inside a leather pouch.  I show the book and that’s not a problem, they inspect the binoculars and hand them back.  Then she lifts the leather pouch with the magnifying glass in it.  She slowly opens it, pulls back the protective paper, stares at it and stares at me.  At this point I am taken to another desk so another security guard can inspect the mysterious item.  I am obviously perplexed.  Do they not have magnifying glasses in Columbia?  The new security guard slowly takes it out of the case.  I explain in Spanish about my eyesight (I have learnt the perfect phrase for that).  She puts it on her book and moves it across the page.  The expression on her face was at the same time priceless and scary – I swear she thought some kind of black magic had just happened to make the writing on her page all of a sudden become larger.  I am genuinely worried at this point as to what will happen next.  Then holding the magnifying glass at arm’s length she carefully places it back in the pouch and gingerly hands it back and lets me go on my way.

After an otherwise uneventful flight, I get to The Secret Garden hostel in Quito.  I immediately love this hostel.  It has an amazing view over the city with a really good roof terrace/bar.  The staff are friendly and there seems to be a good group of people in it.  Finally a hostel that isn’t empty, which I’m really glad about as I am now travelling on my own again.  A girl Kia overhears me asking about ATMs and offer to take me out to find one and have a walk around the city.  This is a good hostel.

I spent the evening having a few drinks on the roof terrace and then we all headed to an Irish bar in the new town area.  Normally I try to avoid Irish bars as I prefer to experience the local bars, but it ends up being a really good night. 

The hostel is having a Halloween party tomorrow night.  Perfect.