We went to Cotapaxi today - Monika (house mother) managed to get me onto the trip with the Spanish school, despite me not signing on the list at the start as I wasn´t sure if I wanted to do this, although it´s on the "to-do" lists of many people, especially those going on further to other hikes, such as Machu Picchu.

The minibus was very crowded (felt slightly guilty, there) and we set off along the motorway to hopefully make it to Cotopaxi National Park in about two hours. I admired the way the driver managed to weave along the motorway lanes, skilfully avoiding the (massive!) potholes in the motorway!

We made into the national park where you could buy last-minute supplies of clothing (of course, not at the best price you´d get in either Quito or Otavalo, but what else can you expect) in the way of warmer clothing. For once, I was fine, having being prepped by Monika, that Cotapaxi was super frio. I, therefore, wore three pairs of trousers, one camisole top, one merino top, one jumper, my pink alpaca fringed jumper and had my fleece jacket and rain jacket ready. I kid you not!

However, things did not go according to plan, not that I knew what the plan was. But from the knowledge of hindsight, the bus was supposed to drive to a "car park" below el refugio and from there, those that could and wanted to, could climb up to the refugio and further up to the glacier. But as I say, that´s not what happened...the bus broke down just before the museum, with steam coming out of the front and it just stopped. It would restart and we ended up with three guides/teachers looking puzzled and concerned, all looking at their mobile phones...it was funny if you didn´t have to wonder if we were going to have to get out and push...!

Anyway, we ended up walking while we left them to find out what to do next and of course, as soon as we started walking, I was having to strip layers...

We ended up walking for about 2-and-a-half hours before they managed to somehow juryrig the bus, walking through bouts of thick mist, rain and sunshine, whilst the snow-capped volcano became visible and ever nearer.

We piled onto the bus, and about 10/15 minutes later, it broke down again (some sort of radiator hose leak, I gather), and we had offload two lots of passengers onto passing trucks. I stayed with the minibus as I had cooled considerably after walking and exerting so long (even with my re-added layers) and didn´t fancy a trip in the back of a pickup truck...

We finally managed to get it working again and we struggled our way up to the bottom of the volcano and took a very zigzaggy route up the snow-covered peak to the refugio for a promised cup of hot chocolate, bathroom, and croissant. It was very misty, and I had to stop several times because of the altitude, slippery icy surface and to put on my sunglasses from the glare of the snow (I was getting after-images when I blinked) and Axel, one of the Swiss guys already had a headache from the altitude. Naturally, it rained/snowed/sleeted on the way up, where you couldn´t see where you were or how far away the refugio was.

I made it up to the refugio for the promised hot chocolate and a ham croissant, where at the top, we saw what looked like a fox in the distance down the path.

We were offered the choice of going further up to the glacier as the weather as the conditions then were still good, but I decided against the idea as I could feel my feet were getting cold and wet and it had been slippery up to the refugio and took the steep way back down. At this stage, because the weather was clear you could see all the way up and down to the car park from the refugio, which made the distance look so much shorter, it was also not snow-covered, so that I thought I think I would have preferred the shorter though steeper route (not that I´d been given a choice at the beginning). I´m glad, in hindsight, not to have gone, as those who managed to make it up (and didn´t have to come back down) came back exhausted and one guy said that the snow fell into his shoes (none of us having equipped ourselves with proper mountaineering gear), especially as it hadn´t been something that I´d especially felt the need to do.

We made it back later than expected, had dinner, and then got ready to pack for the bus journey to La Hesperia tomorrow morning, departing at 7:30 am...