Cotopaxi to the Coast — The road liss traveled

Time for more volcano hiking! Next up I wanted to hike Illinza Norte topping out at 5,300 m. I booked a place in a little village near the trailhead, got a taxi to drive me up there and started hiking, but as I was hiking up to the refuge I was informed by the hikers coming down that the owner had locked everything up, sooooo uhh I ended up turning around and going back. It was raining pretty good so I wasn’t exactly horribly disappointed at the time. The next day I switched guesthouses and I was going to do another day hike, but the weather was terrible again so I ended up just staying in the lodge. I ended up meeting some people that night to visit the Cotopaxi base camp with.

The next morning the weather was of course awful, but as we drove our way up the volcano the summit of Cotopaxi actually began to appear above the clouds. A small miracle given the weather the last few days! Our taxi driver dropped us off at the parking lot and we walked uphill for about an hour until we reached the lodge. This is where the people hoping to climb the whole volcano will stay the night before making their summit attempts. From there we hiked another 45 minutes up until where the snow/ice starts before turning around. Unfortunately we couldn’t see any of the other volcanoes off in the distance, but we were still very happy with our weather. The volcano itself is a symmetrically shaped cone capped with ice, it’s very aesthetically pleasing! The way down you can mostly just run on the loose volcanic sand which is quick and fun. And then once we drove down the clouds overtook us and we were greeted with a nice hailstorm! You never really know with this weather.

all those little white specks on the ground are hail

At the guesthouse I inquired about getting to the top of Cotopaxi, but it sounded like they had a shortage of guides as there was a big independence day in Quito that weekend. Plus I’d have to rent a whole bunch of gear for climbing on ice/snow, combined with the recent weather and I decided to take a pass. After so many cloudy/rainy days I was really hoping to get some sun on the coast. The next day I took a 10 hour bus ride to get to a small town called Puerto Lopez. My travel buddy was staying there so I met up with him again. And of course the weather was cloudy. We thought maybe the weather would be better further south down the coast in Montanita, but nahh. Although Montanita is definitely a party town, so there was a lot of stuff going on at night. Two nights there was enough for me as the lack of sun was really bumming me out.

Next stop, back into the mountains, the third largest city in Ecuador: Cuenca. I think Cuenca was my favorite city in Ecuador. It’s not so large and spread out like Quito and Guayaquil and it’s got a really nice colonial downtown, cool architecture, it’s clean, relatively safe, and has a good food scene. It sounds like more and more expats are moving to this city.

The following day I decided to do some hiking in Cajas National Park, which is a high altitude, very green, scrub forest. It looks something like the Scottish highlands, dotted with lagoons everywhere. I took a bus to the park station and checked out my possible routes. On one side of the park was a few shorter but well marked trails while on the other side were some longer hikes with less maintained trails. I told the lady I wanted to hike 6 or 7 hours and she recommended a hike that she said would take about 7 hours. Sounds good to me!

I had to walk a kilometer down the highway and then I found my trail. It was a great start, I saw some wild alpacas just off the road and the sun was coming out for a bit, which is unusual in this place. Plus I had the whole place to myself. After a slight climb I could see endless lakes in the distance. The trail pretty much disappeared, but it doesn’t really matter because the low shrubs and grasses are easily navigable. It’s referred to as a paramo ecosystem, basically the catchall name for tropical mountain vegetation above the treeline. Fortunately the trail was marked on maps.me on my phone, so I just had to stay close to where it said the trail was. Easy enough!

feels like the Scottish highlands (or so I’d like to believe)

After about 4 hours of hiking I got to a large lake, and maps.me has two trails around the lake. I chose the wrong one. The trail vanished again and I was left bushwalking, climbing over rocks, fording rivers, and squeezing my way through overgrown branches in a small forest. I eventually scrambled my way around the lake and was able to rejoin the ‘main’ trail. But it was exhausting and probably cost me at least an hour. At this point the clouds had rolled in and the rain had started. I had lost the trail once again. Although I guess it’s hard to lose the trail if there really isn’t one! Note: from here on out it’s basically me complaining about how awful my day was, so read at your own peril! It’s a lot of whinging.

some very pleasant scenery and weather - at first!

I was basically descending down a small stream with lots of slippery rocks with sticks and branches sticking out everywhere to stab me or catch my poncho. I banged my knee pretty hard and was bleeding now. My shoe was ripped. I had completely given up on keeping anything dry at this point. After crossing a mini-marshland and down climbing a small rock face I was beginning to get a bit worried. Climbing down wet slippery rocks was not how I pictured this hike going! I had no idea where the trail was, but I found a spot where I could get a view, and sure enough I was surrounded on three sides by steep canyon walls and still no trail in sight. This might be the first time I’ve ever felt a bit of panic set in on a hike! I was already imagining having to stay the night on the mountain in a steady cold rain, which I didn’t have the proper gear for. Hypothermia here we come!

I tramped through the brush looking to find anything that looked like a trail. Still nothing. Eventually I found some rocks to scramble down. It was treacherous! It was so slippery I constantly had to slide on my butt whenever I could. This was type of ‘hiking’ that would be so easy to lose your footing and sprain or break your ankle. I was kind of angry that I would even be recommended to do this deathtrap hike! The rain was not going anywhere. I was soaked and cold. The going was extremely slow. But on the plus side I was back on track. After another hour or two it flattened out into the valley and I was able to make it to the ranger station a couple hours later. It was 5pm now and I finally made it to the park gate, it was locked! I was told it closed 4:30, so yeaa, about right.

Next challenge: hopping over the barbed wire fence! I was able to find a low point and scrambled over it, not without ripping my shirt though. And they had all these fuzzy little plants planted at the base which started to burn my skin when I touched them. I really should have worn pants! So now with my legs on fire I still had another 2 miles down the road to get to the highway. When I got there I tried to flag down buses going by, but no one was stopping! What the hell! Normally it’s very easy to flag down a bus and they almost always stop. But this was a 2 lane highway in the mountains with no shoulder, so there really isn’t anywhere to stop. Arghggh. Time to walk down the highway, in the rain, with all the cars wizzing just a few feet away from me. This day just won’t end.

I managed to talk to someone walking up the road and I was informed I’d have another few miles to walk into the nearest town, and from there I could catch a local bus into Cuenca. I’d been walking so long in such miserable conditions that I was basically inured to it at this point. What’s another few miles? Eventually I found the bus stop, waited 20 minutes, and finally was on my way back into civilization. Another kilometer from the bus stop and I was back at my hostel. I wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and flop into bed. Although it was eerily dark and the bar/restaurant was closed when I arrived at 8pm. Very strange. At the reception they informed me they had some sort of gas problem so I’d have to pack up my stuff and find a new place to stay for the night! You have got to kidding me.

I haphazardly threw all my crap together and set out to find some new lodging. I ended up at the closest hotel for $35/night. It seemed like a nice place. But of course they didn’t have change for a $50 bill. Of course the credit card fee is 10%. Of course the room is up three flights of stairs. Of course there is no hot water! But eventually I crawled under the nice warm covers and that was the end of the very long, terrible, no good day.

Bonus pictures: The zoo in Cuenca. It was awesome btw!