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Good morninnnnngggg from the bus to Cotopaxi. I'm pretty sure I'm still drunk from last night but nothing like trying to hike a bloody volcano early in the morning . I am running on three hours of sleep and could really chug a red bull right about now . Good news is that I've finally had my first dose of mcdonalds on this trip . Good ol egg and bacon mcmuffin always such a treat when your hungover .
Currently the tour guide is yacking away in Spanish and English about something I just cannot take in at the moment. I actually didn't plan to go out last night but when I rocked up to my hostel last night I found out they have a bar there and it's happy hour every hour so how can I say no to that ?
Yesterday I did a day trip to Otavalo with my roommate from the Galapagos trip. We organised a private tour there . Otavalo is a town of about 50,000 people and it's famous for its daily handcraft markets. I didn't expect to buy anything here but ended up buying a scarf and some happy pants . Can never go wrong buying happy pants they are awesome. Afterwards we visited a town near by called Cotacachi which is famous for its production of leather goods . I thought initially bloody hell I don't want to go to a stupid town just to look at leather stuff I won't even buy ... Boom first store we go past I end up buying a hand bag . On our way back to Quito we made our guide pass the "middle world " where supposedly the equator line sits. It was pretty cool putting one foot in each side of the hemisphere . Tick that of my bucket list for sure .
Overall it was a good day . When we returned to Quito I had to pack up my stuff and head to my hostel which I'm staying at until I leave to Lima. I am actually enjoying rocking up to hostels and meeting heaps of people doing what I'm doing . I met a couple of Aussies , Germans and Americans .
So back to my volcano hike. Today I'm visiting volcano Cotopaxi which is a two hour drive south of quito . It is the second highest volcano and mountain in Ecuador ( 5789 m ) . Apparently there are 42 active volcanos in Ecuador . The plan is to hike for two hours and then take a mountain bike upon descent. It's going to be interesting doing this hungover . I'll let you know how I go later ...
Turns out being hungover and going up a mountain isn't such a bad combination. I worried about developing a raging headache while up at altitude but I ended up being fine . Hopefully this is also a good sign that I might be ok at the inca trail where people can get quite bad altitude sickness .
The climb up Cotopaxi was tough though. It was steep and you had to stop regularly to get your breath . I saw parents taking there little kids up the mountain and I was like wtf . That's child abuse to the max the poor things. Once we got to the refuge a few of us continued towards the glacier bit which was cool . The descent was harder then I expected my quads were burning . And I slipped about three times onto my ass . Once at the bottom we hopped on our bikes and rode down to the very bottom. It was scary at first but once I got used to being on a mountain bike going down a hill I let go of the breaks a bit to enjoy the speed . The tour group I went with were ok. Most of them spoke Spanish so I couldn't really have a good convo with them. There were three Americans and I didn't really want up to them unlike the ones of my Galapagos cruise. One of the older ladies annoyed the s*** out of me as she was going around giving everyone life advice such as how to breathe while climbing and mountain and then how to ride a bike. Lady I know how to breathe and I know how to ride a bike !
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