Saturday 26th May

We've just finished our first week of Spanish School and volunteering. We spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday at our Spanish School Co-ordinator's house, where we helped cook a typical Ecuadorian meal and watched a South Americian film which was partly filmed in Sangolqui (where we are staying). After trying our first attempts at cooking, our Spanish teacher and his wife joined us and he entertained us by singing some South American songs accompanying himself on his Spanish guitar. We've been joined by two other people who are also coming on the overland trip, Kris and Liam.

Today, 5 of us went on a trip to Cotopaxi (the highest active volcano in the world) which is about 5,900 metres at the summit. We drove up to about 4,500 metres and then set off on foot to the snowline which was at 5,000 metres. Crampons and ice picks are required after this and it takes on average 7 hours to get to the summit! (Un)fortunately we didn't have the right equipment!!!!!! It took us about 1 hour and 35 minutes to climb the 500 metres due to the altitude. We climbed very slowly, stopping at the Refuge halfway for lunch. The glacier we reached was 50 metres deep in 1990, but it is now only 15 metres deep. The views on the journey to Cotopaxi and from the glacier were spectacular. We returned to our vehicle in only 35 minutes. Apart from visiting Cotopaxi, this was a good test of our ability to cope with the altitude and good practice for the four day climb on the Inca Trail.