Our Andean Adventure: Cotopaxi

On January 6, we left Quito in the morning for Cotopaxi in central Ecuador. Cotopaxi is one of 84 volcanoes in Ecuador, and it's an active one. At just over 19,000 feet, it's the second highest peak in Ecuador, and one of the most famous in the world. And we wanted to see it!

Tim did some online searching, and booked us two nights at the Secret Garden Cotopaxi (www.secretgardencotopaxi.com). To get there, we taxied to its sister hostel, the Secret Garden Quito. Once there, we were put into a taxi. We were told that the taxi would take us to Machachi, and from there we'd get into a different vehicle to go the rest of the way to Cotopaxi.

For about an hour, we traveled down the freeway to Machachi. Our driver pulled into a gas station, and we waited for our next ride. A pick-up truck showed up; our bags were put into the back of the truck, and we climbed in.

Going from taxi to truck in Machachi.

It's all good in the backseat!

We were off on the freeway again. But eventually, we realized why we switched to the truck. The roads leading to Cotopaxi are made of stone and dirt -- and crazy bumpy and bouncy. We bounced along -- like seriously bounced along -- for probably 50 minutes. I don't know how people drive on those roads every day; I suppose you get used to it and it becomes a way of life.

We turned off the stone/dirt road onto a stone/dirt driveway to Secret Garden Cotopaxi. And once we made it to the (very small) parking lot, we realized we were in a magical place. Secret Garden Cotopaxi is a hostel, so there are shared bedrooms and bathrooms, and one main common area. We booked one of the three private bedrooms on the property, so we had a little bathroom in our room. But the property is INCREDIBLE. If you ever visit Cotopaxi, you HAVE to stay here.

A view from our room. Yes, those are volcanoes in the background!

Our little room-hut at the Secret Garden.

We joined others who had shuttled in via van from Quito in the common area. A host gave us the "rules" -- meal hours, the activity run-down, how to reserve the jacuzzi, and more. We introduced ourselves to one another; besides us, there was a couple from Boston (although the guy was a Quito native), a guy from Maine, a couple from Holland, and two couples from Germany. There were others at Secret Garden, too, whom we would meet over the course of our two and a half days there. After dropping our bags off in our rooms, we all returned to the common area -- to the large dining table -- to eat lunch. Lunch was so good, and we topped it off with Secret Garden's always-available famous banana bread.

The dining table at Secret Garden Cotopaxi.

Following lunch, we headed out for a waterfall hike. This hike was breathtaking; we were surrounded by canopies of trees and the greenest greenery. We saw three waterfalls along the way, and stopped at the third. Some members of our group threw on bathing suits and went swimming below the waterfall; we did not (did I tell you I have an aversion to the cold?). After 20 minutes at the waterfall, we hiked back to the hostel.

Heading out on our hike. The hostel gave us boots to wear, since we'd be trekking through some streams.

The third waterfall!

Since there's no WiFi at the Secret Garden, you use your time to play and rest and breathe instead. We chose to get up close to the llamas on the property, and we fed them banana peels. The kids were enchanted. When it started to rain, we went inside the common area, found ourselves a table with a beautiful view, and did some homework and played cards. At 5pm, the staff and volunteers brought out a snack (also delicious). We continued playing cards until the dinner bell rang at 7pm.

Feeding a llama.

More feeding.

Just swinging along.

This llama wants the banana peel so badly...

Doing homework at our table with a view.

It's snack time!

Eight dogs live at Secret Garden Cotopaxi, and they know when it's snack time, too.

Dinner was pizza, and it was delicious. For those who are curious, Tim did eat a slice of pizza topped with guinea pig. I declined; I'm just not ready yet. We were served tiramisu for dessert. After dinner, we walked back to our room and got ready for bed. I did some laundry in the bathtub, we read some books, and went to sleep.

The next morning, we were up early to eat breakfast and pack for our visit to Cotopaxi National Park, where we planned to hike up a portion of Cotopaxi. Our guide picked us up about 8:15am, and there were three other Secret Garden guests -- two from Orange County and one from Loma Linda (how about that?!) -- in our group. We hopped in our guide's Hyundai van, and drove (rather, bounced) for about 90 minutes to Cotopaxi National Park. Once inside the park, we could see small and large volcanic rocks everywhere, from previous eruptions. Soon, we started the climb up to the Cotopaxi parking lot. There were some places where I just couldn't look down -- it was that steep (and no guardrail).

Once in the national park, we got out of the van for some photos before the drive up the volcano.

See these rocks? They're all from previous eruptions.

Our group in front of the trusty van.

Let me just stop here and say: This volcano is wild, people. It has almost a perfect cone and a glacier at its top. It's beyond beautiful; its magnificence and presence just make you stop in your tracks. And you can see Cotopaxi for miles and miles and miles around.

From the parking lot, we got out of the van, layered up (it's darn cold up there), and very slowly started hiking.

About to start our hike.

We took a zig-zag route; our other option was a steep climb, which we didn't think would work too well with two kids. Immediately, we could feel the altitude; it was hard to breathe. We hiked even slower and took frequent breaks. But at a certain point, the kids were done.

Taking a break on Cotopaxi. That's our guide, Henry, in the far left of the photo. As we were hiking up, he spread out his arms and told us, "This is my office." An incredible office, indeed.

Our goal had been to make it to the refuge -- base camp for those who want to summit Cotopaxi -- and we made it about halfway there, probably about 15,500 feet. We told our guide we were going to head back to the van; he gave us the keys and ran to catch up with the three others in our group.

After about 40 minutes, the rest of our group returned. We drove out of the national park, and back to the Secret Garden. We were all pretty tired -- being at that high altitude did us in a bit. We ate some lunch and then returned to our favorite table to do some more homework and play some more games.

At dinner that night, we linked up with a couple, Hannah and Nathan, from Maui. They had just summited Cotopaxi that morning, after having begun their climb up (ice picks, crampons, head lamps, and everything) at midnight. They were heading to Baños the following day, Saturday, as were we. We agreed to share a van and split the cost of the three hour drive.

Hannah and Nathan told us that while they were climbing down from Cotopaxi's summit, they were passed by a runner named Karl Egloff (www.karlegloff.com). They learned later that morning that Karl set the speed climbing world record for essentially running up to the Cotopaxi summit and back down. Umm, I didn't even know a sport like that existed. Mad, mad props to Karl! (And how cool to see the world record happening live!)

After dinner, we retreated to our room for more book reading and bed. The next morning, I went for a run along the Cotopaxi driveway. I wheezed my way through three miles. That altitude...phew! We ate our last meal at the large dining table, then finished packing, and hopped in the van with Hannah and Nathan at 10am. Over those bouncy roads once more -- and back to the freeway that would take us south to Baños.

Our visit to Cotopaxi and our stay at the Secret Garden were so, so special. Highlight of the trip so far, which, yes, hasn't even been a full week.