Cotopaxi Volcano

We weren't planning on blogging today, but we have 6 hours to kill until our night bus to Lago Agrio, so why not! Our hostel was kind enough to let us hang out here until the bus, so we had our last hot shower for week, and now we are just chilling/recovering. Ironically about 5 hours after our last blog post (where we bragged about being stomach-trouble free), Lisa got pretty sick with some unknown stomach bug. A rough night for sure; unable to keep food or water (or pills) down... but thankfully it appears to be pretty much over. Today we had arranged to climb up to El Refugio - the "base camp" of sorts of the Cotopaxi Volcano, so stomach troubles aside we went for it anyways (since we'd already paid for a guide). It was a rough go for Lisa, who'd had all of about 50 calories, 2 hours of sleep and 1/2 bottle of gatorade. At the starting point hut we had some Coca Tea, which is supposed to help with the altitude, and with nausea. The drive up to the volcano took us past some high-altitude lagunas and wild horses. Our guide told us that one lone [obviously lost] pink flamingo lived in the laguna for a couple months a while back.

The trek took us up to 4810 meters above sea level (15,750 feet); our first real high-altitude experience. Neither of us had ever been this high before, and it's a bizarre feeling. The trek itself wasn't particularly steep, but we took baby steps the whole way, and had to stop about every 10 steps to let our heart rates settle down somewhat. We were very thankful for our guide, Santiago, who paced us. The weather wasn't fantastic, but we were lucky to see the summit from the North side of the volcano for about an hour. It was a pretty spectacular climb, and the landscape was very unusual; something between tundra and a big sand dune, with glaciers. It's pretty much impossible to describe, so here's some pictures instead.

We made it to El Refugio, but opted out on going further, since (for lack of better words) we both felt like crap.  Still worth it though!  We also opted out of the tempting hot chocolate as it was made with glacial water and our guide warned us that it even made him sick.  We made it down safe and sound.  Slept the entire nauseating car ride back to Quito (decided we need more Gravol!) and haven't moved much since.

We are about to embark on our first real Ecuadorian bus ride to Lago Agrio, in the Amazon. We've been exchanging stories with other travellers in our hostel, and from what we've heard this could be quite the adventure! We're going to stock up on more Gravol & some earplugs from a pharmacy on the way to the bus station.