Day 9: It's Almost There...

Got up at 6:20am, just so I could have sufficient time to check out, have breakfast and be at the tour agency by 8am. I think the guy said I should be there at 8-8:15am, I took the low end of course. The sky was gloomy and ready to rain, I checked online for the weather forecast for Cotopaxi, it was expected to snow all days, so I kind of thought the tour was not going to happen. Anyway, I sat outside of the travel agency for at least half an hour, no sight of anyone coming. Until a Canadian guy showed up, he seemed to be my tour mate. From what they told me yesterday, it was just going to be the two of us. So, we sat, introduced ourselves, waited and talked. Henry was retired, have a passion in mountains and have been traveling in Ecuador for weeks now, attempting to hike various volcanoes. His wife have stayed for 10 days too and have just left. He seemed like a very nice guy. We waited and waited, 8:50am, still no sign of anyone coming. Finally a girl showed up, thrown up a ton of Spanish at my face that I did not have a clue what she was saying, and then she hanged me her phone, someone over the phone told me that there was a bit of mixup with the guide they arranged, the tour had to be canceled. They apologized and all, and said they would refund us. Asked us to wait there. Another girl showed up, she did speak English, she was the one who I talked to yesterday. She again apologized and refunded us the deposits. She suggested we could do the trip ourselves if we wanted. Henry was so keen on going that, while I had hesitation on the weather, but I agreed to go with him anyway, since I was here already and it was the last chance. I could always cut it short, I thought. It was better go with someone than going by myself, the only worry I had was my backpack, I needed to know whether there was a place I could store it. I was not going to carry 23 kg of backpack on my back to hike. The girl said I could keep it in the truck. I did not understand at the time, but thought I would see what happen.

Anyway, so we walked to bus terminal, took a bus to Quito, and asked the driver to let us get off at the entrance of Cotopaxi National Park. There was an incident in the highway, and the bus went to the village roads, and we had no idea where the hack we were. Eventually, they came back to check if anyone was going to Cotopaxi, we said we were, so they went all the way back to the highway and let us out at the entrance. It was kind of a mess. Anyhow, as we got off, there were already a line of trucks waiting to pick up tourists, it was like taxi in a way, they would be hired to drive up to the museum, the lagoon, and the place where you started the hike to the base camp. It was like $50 for two persons. Cheaper than our tour already. The guy we had was very nice, I think his name was Rico. As we went into the Cotopaxi National Park, I was surprised how big the area was, it reminded of the Dakotas, the highlands. The weather was no bien. It was raining, very windy. The museum was a meh. After some coffee and coca tea, we headed straight to the hike, you almost surprised how high the truck was driving us to. I really did not know what to expect. I did the Macchu Pichu hike, and some mild hiking in South Dakota once. But nothing prepared me for this. We were in the extreme condition I would say, it was snowing, mixed with freezing rain, and strong winds, the base camp was visible from where we started, it was only 200m after all, but the incline on the volcanic sand was not an easy tasks, especially with that weather condition. I breathed heavier and heavier with each step. There were many moments I wanted to give up and turn back. But I kept telling myself, it's almost there, you would be rewarded with bananas, some coca tea, and a chair to sit inside. Henry was way ahead of me, but he told to just take my time. And I did, I took the whole 45-50 mins to walk up that 0.125 miles.

I breathed so heavy going up, some folks when they were descending saw me like I was ready to die, they gave me a candy. Just to give me some extra energy to push it through. My nasal dripping was on my goatee, I looked like a train wrack no less. But I made it to the base camp at 4864 meters (or 15953 feet) eventually. That was a personal record. It felt very satisfying, but at the same time, I was thinking what the hell have I done. Good that I did not get myself into one of those panic attack, I did have my inhaler with me, just in case. But I did not use it. I rest on the rock a few times, just stayed calm and let my body to adjust. When I got to the base camp, Henry was chatting with a girl from Seattle, she was very generous and offered to drop us back if we were on the same path. But we had our truck waiting. So, we just thanked her. Henry wanted to challenge himself to go further up, for maybe 20 mins or so. So off he went, and I was just sipping my coca tea. There were flags everything in the room, I did not see Hong Kong. But there was a China flag and a UK flag. I first signed the China flag, but it didn't feel quite right, so I signed the UK flag too. It is a HK thing. Maybe China has the sovereignty over Hong Kong now, but Hong Kong people would always have their own identity whether they like or not. They can just deal with it.

Found Henry back at 2:30pm, we were supposed to meet the truck driver at 3pm at 4600m parking lot. So, we started our way down. Walking down actually looked scary, partly because the volcanic sands provided no footing, often I was kind of half sliding with my sneakers. And from the angle looking down, there were lot of edges. I meant if you walked closer to the edge, they were not really edges. But like a sand dunes, from a certain angles, you do not really know what the other sides are. That was the scary part. Nonetheless, walking down was much faster, it may have taken us 15 mins or so. I was so glad when I was back sitting in the truck. I am alive! Hallelujah! My pants were a mess, I was wearing my jeans underneath my wind breaker pants. Both were wet and the outer pants were dirty. My sneakers were brownish-red, from the volcanic sands. My mini backpack were wet. The snow and rains kind of made them even more gross. Anyway, we did it. I did it. I think I deserved a really relaxing last day in Quito tomorrow.

Before then, I still needed to figure out how to get to Quito. After saying goodbye to Henry, supposedly I needed to stand by the side of the highway to flag down a bus to Quito. But somehow I was standing in the wrong place, where it was marked yellow on the curbside, I think it meant no car can stop there, right? I don't know, maybe because of exhaustion, my brain was not functioning. I waited there for a good while, and all the buses just passed me by. Finally I figured that out, and I walked up to the next block where there was no yellow marker on the curbside. The next bus stopped by for me. I was really damn exhausted from the hike, as we arrived the bus terminal in Quito, it was quite a distance from the center, I decided to just take a taxi to go to the airbnb, instead of doing the bus for another hour and half. I thought I was very hungry, since other than the breakfast at the hotel, a candy, and 3 bananas, I did not really eat anything else today. So, I ordered a big 1/2 lbs rib burger. After half of it, I could not eat anymore, I think it may have to do with the altitude changes today, and my body was still adjusting. I took the leftover home and eventually finished it. I think I have done enough for this trip, this has been way beyond what I anticipated already. So no plan is my plan tomorrow.

See all Day 9 photos here.

Day 8: Trip to Quilotoa and Back

After a great breakfast at the hotel, I took a taxi to bus terminal, they were all called Terminal Terrestre, I think my pronunciation must be way off, the taxi driver did not understand me, I ended up having to change a different cab. Again, this second taxi driver did not use meter as well, unlike Quito or Cuenca. Latacunga is a very touristy place, maybe that is why they wanted to get as much money off from the tourists as possible, they were not asking for crazy amount at least for such a short distance. So, I was fine with that. When I arrived, I saw that there were already a line on the platform, many looked like tourists and had backpacks with them, so I bet they were either go to Quilotoa or Cotopaxi. I asked one of the girls in front of me, a Quilotoa aqui? She said Si, and she asked me if I have a boleta (ticket) and I did not. So, I went in and got my ticket, came back to the line. Even though the tickets were all for specific seats, they always had more people than the number of seats on the bus. Two girls ended up had to sit right next to the driver the whole time even though they bought the tickets. I think they got the best views anyway.

We passed by valleys, mountains, farmlands, and gorges, as we went higher and higher, we reached the clouds, but we came back down closer to the human affairs again. As we arrived at Zumbahua, there was a sign saying that Quilotoa was only 12 km away. We arrived in just a couple more minutes. Overall, it was a 1.5 hours ride, the views outside of the windows were not boring at all. All the passenagers on the bus got off at Quilotoa, because we were considered walking inside to the crater lake area, so it was free for us. You can also drove your car or bus inside, they did need to pay a visit fee. I did not linger behind this time, I kind of rushed up to the front, not just because I couldn't wait to see the lake, I really needed to take a leak as well, I know, it wouldn't be an easy find for a bathroom. Didn't know if it had anything to do the altitude, but I felt like I needed to pee a lot this past week. There were two hiking options in Quilotoa, either hiking along the rim of the volcano, which would take 5 hours, some areas could be very steep and sandy. The other option is hiking down to the crater lake, it only takes 30-45 mins to go down, but coming back is the difficult part, it can take up to 1.5 hours for the return. I did not do neither. Instead I walked along the rim a bit, and then I found a spot to sit and looked at the lake for a good while, ate some bread while enjoying the views.

It started to rain a little around 1pm. So, I started to head back to the entrance to wait for 1:45pm return bus. The bus was quite empty, I picked a window seat. The rain had already long gone, the sun and blue sky had returned. I was able to take some pictures of the valleys and farmlands. On a clear day, Cotopaxi Volcano can be visible as well. Cotopaxi is one of the world's highest volcanoes, active. If weather permits, I will be hiking up to the base camp by the glaciers on the top of Cotopaxi tomorrow, I will not summit, to do that, it requires two days. Will see if I will be that luck to see the Cotopaxi tomorrow. With the current weather, one never knows. Anyway, got back to town 3:45-4ish, instead of taking taxi, I decided to walk back the center, it was really a 10-15 mins walk, it was absolutely nothing. I found a creperie and had a banana & nutella crepes, sort of a late lunch snacks. I also stopped by the tour agency to check about tomorrow. So, here is the deal, Cotopaxi will be very cold, the base camp is at 4800m. I was checking if I needed to rent any heavier jacket or hiking gear from them, since I did not bring any heavy jackets for this trip. I do have a hoodie, a jacket and another rain/wind jacket. She suggested that I should wear all of them, I have two pants, I will be wearing both of them as well. So, basically I will be walking like a mummy tomorrow. Will see how that works out. Also, the plan is that I will leave to Quito right after the tour at Cotopaxi, I will need to catch a bus on the highway. There will be probably some traffic on the later afternoon hours, but I hope I will still make it back to Quito before getting dark.

See all Day 8 photos here.

Day 7: A Girl Walking with a Sheep Does not Mean She Does not Know What a Selfie Stick is

Finally the big Guamote Market Day has arrived. The truth of the matter is that I have planned my whole itinerary around this market day, since it only happens once a week on a Thursday. I needed to make sure I would be in Guamote Wednesday and Thursday morning, that dictated when I need to do the Devil's Nose Train, the Volcano tours and how long I would stay in Cuenca. Guamote is a bit off the beaten tracks for a lot of tourists, that is even better for me. As long as there is a bus to get there, I would make it work.

The breakfast was scheduled for 7:30am for us: the two Belgian women, Nadine and myself. Because we were not part of those two big tour groups, we kind of bonded in some ways, we sat together for dinner last night and again breakfast this morning. They were all nice people, I have enjoyed talking to them, we talked about anything from travel, foods to politics. I had huevo frito, some toasts with dulce de leche Nadine shared, fruits and most important of all - coffee. The Belgians have planned to return to Belgium today after the market. We hugged and bid each other goodbye and good luck for the rest of the journey. Nadine and I have planned the school visit this morning after breakfast, and then we have also walked to the animal market together.

The school visit was interesting. I did not really know what to expect. It was more like a pre-school in the US, kids were between 3 and 5, their parents have no money to pay for school, they come here to spend time during the day, and learn some basic stuff: Spanish, Math, some English. One of the kids couldn't be cuter and kept looking at us. I wished I had something for them. They have so little, but they are satisfied with what they got, Eva told me that. That may be one of the reasons why I was drawn to South America to begin with, their simplicity, their generosity, there may be many hardship definitely, but they managed to maintain being happy and satisfied. Below the classroom, there were a computer room for the local adults, and a sowing room where girls learned to sow. Some of the computer monitors were so small or the bulky ones that we no longer use in the West. They were donated from Europe mostly. I am grateful that I have added a visit to the school, just renewed my perspective on things we have.

Next we went to animal market, where they sold horses, donkeys, chicken, guinea pig, ducks, cows, sheep, pigs, and I bet anything moves. It was an true experience, not only the amount of indigenous people gathered in those markets, but the amount of animals also squeezed into those tiny spaces. Some of those cows with horns were not cooperating and were running right behind you. There were a few scary moments actually. I told Nadine, maybe we should not be getting this close. But I couldn't help it, on the other hand, the whole scene was so unique and foreign to me, I don't think I could find this easily in any other places, I did not see it in Peru, and definitely not in the West, because of sanitation, I don't think we do this kind of stuff anymore. People were mostly friendly towards us, a lot of folks called me Chino, one of them even do a Bruce Lee thing. I just found it amusing what people would associate a country or a place with, when I said I am from Hong Kong, it is always the marital art thing, the truth is that we have never done that growing up, not even cared about it.

We stayed for an hour or so, and then we walked back to the guesthouse, the animal market was about a mile away at the outskirt of town, not bad a walk at all. I couldn't wait to get some shoes washed, since I stepped on countless of the animals' dunk-a-dunk, and I was dying to wash my hands, I did not want to accidentally rub my eyes with those hands, and got myself some guinea pig's flu or something never existed in human. I also took an allergy pill just in case. Continued with the other market, which was ok, it was not unlike other tourist or local markets existed anywhere in the world, they were selling fruits, foods, household stuffs, guy on microphone describing a miracle drug to the mountain folks, and even selfie sticks (you can buy that too). It is still a little strange to piece things together, a girl who is carrying a sheep might be buying a selfie stick. Most of them know what a smartphone is and a lot of them even used them. All these modern technology stuff collided with the traditional culture, the farming, the animals big time. It was just interesting to see. Everywhere were colors, animals, people sitting around talking to each other, and kids running around the train tracks. We had light rain all morning, it did not stop the market. I had a quick bite, some potato and chicken, and I went back to the guesthouse to check out, and was off to the next town. I did donate some money to Inti Sisa, I think that was the right thing to do, and I wished I could do more.

I walked back to the highway, this time I did need to flag down a bus to Quito and need to tell the driver to let me get off at Latacunga. I stood inhaling the dusts on the highway for may be 15 mins, I got on a bus towards Quito, and off I went. They dropped me off not in bus terminal in town though, instead I was dropped off on the highway again, which was a couple miles away from town. I had to take a taxi to my hotel. The bus ride itself cost only 5 dollars (91 miles), and that taxi ride for 2-3 miles top was also 5 dollars. He did not use meters, I did not want to argue with my backpack and all, I just wanted to get away from the highway. So, I just paid the 5 dollars. Couple mins later, viola, I got my first hotel in Ecuador, it was very nice room on the second floor. Unfortunately, my credit card failed to work for me at the hotel, and at the ATM machine, so I paid the hotel in cash. I had to call the credit card overseas and figured out what the hell is going on. They reset my password, and I have finally got some cash back from ATM.

In Latacunga, I planned to join two particular tours: Cotopaxi volcano and the crater lake Quilotoa. I have checked a few tour agencies, it did not seem to have any group tour available at the moment, probably because of the weather. The first tour agency I went, Neiges, the guy couldn't be nicer, although they could not give me a group tour, I asked him whether I could do these trips on my own. He said yes, and he pretty much drew the whole map and directions for me to go by myself by bus. I think Quilotoa I can definitely do it on my own. For the Cotopaxi volcano one though, it is slightly more complicated, and the weather there is a big factor, it is going to very very cold. The tour will head up to the base camp at 4800m. Anyway, I have kind of given up on the idea of going to Cotopaxi this time, but then another tour agency just contacted before 8pm, and said they have found another person to go with, if the weather permits, I supposed, we will likely be going to Cotopaxi Saturday. So I rushed back and paid my deposit. Will see if we end up going. I hope we do. Tomorrow, I will just go to Quilotoa myself.

See all photos from Inti Sisa school visit here.
See all photos from Guamote Market here.