Today was a nice and early day, we started at 5:00 am to head over to Quilotoa which is known to be a dormant volcano and it last erupted 800 years ago and blew off the top of the volcano and created a giant crater, the crater was then filled with precipitation and snow melt, however the water was not fresh due to volcanic chemicals within it. We arrived at the park and some people wanted to get hot chocolate and whatnot before we hiked down. The store that we went to was owned by one of the indigenous people, and she had a tiny little puppy that just wanted to play with everyone and he stole the hearts of pretty much everyone on the trip, including Tait! He actually wanted to bring him home!
Then as we were waiting we gained a couple more doggie friends. They followed us for the entire hike and most of the time we were there, but it was only because we were giving them food and they were hungry. Diego was telling us that these dogs try to hunt but it is very hard for them so a lot of them are very hungry and become malnourished. We kept feeding them the ham and cheese sandwiches the hotel gave us for breakfast at 5 am so obviously they were going to be with us the entire time. They were cool dogs though and they were crazy running down the side to the mountain not on trails, they own the land. The hike down was tough, very steep and winding and the ground was easy to lose your footing on especially in steep areas. As the hike went on it started getting hotter and hotter, the morning it started so cold we were all bundled up but at we got closer and closer to midday it was heating up. The whole way down I was thinking how terrible the hike up was going to be. They mentioned that there might be mules that you could ride up for 10 dollars which I was definitely interested in but we were there kind of early, so we weren’t sure if they would be down there yet. We got to the bottom and noticed that there was a little lodge with bathrooms and next to it were a set of solar panels to generate power for that and the small area at the bottom. Seems like a consistent theme in these parks which is a theme that I love to see. At the bottom we waited for the activities like kayaking to be open but no one ever came down at the time they said they would open and they ended up being late which didn’t give us the chance to go kayaking out on the lake, which was a bummer. But we got to sit and take in the tranquil scenery and sounding area. Seeing things like tis right in front of your eyes is so powerful to me and I love the feeling it gives me. You just feel so at peace and like nothing else in the world matters other what it right there in front of you, very calming. I enjoyed my time taking in the sights and then it was time to go up, as we were about to go up we saw some mules coming down! I was so excited and ready to pay my 10 dollars on that Mule ride. Me, Greg, Haley, Laurel, Diego, and his wife took the mules and it was a very interesting and sometimes nerve-wracking experience. First of all, it was a pretty steep and long climb up I couldn’t believe the mule could maneuver up that so well, but they did, the only thing that was worrisome is they would sometime try to pass each other and almost cut each other off and bump and whatnot. I just didn’t want to get thrown off my mule. At one-point laurels mule stumbled and almost fell but luckily caught itself. We made it to the top within like 15-20 minutes, everyone that hiked it took them and 1.5-2 hours. And they all wanted to drop dead when they finally made it lol.
We were now a little behind in terms of or schedule, we went to Cotopaxi next. Cotopaxi is an active volcano that last erupted in 2015. The park was actually close for a while before the trip we actually thought we were going to be able to go because it was at risk but apparently it just opened. The eruption in 2015 wiped out the surrounding area including the native forest. There are now effort to reforest this are but the trees that are being planted are Canadian Pines which are not natural to south America. This management decision has the potential to alter that ecosystem for years to come. The park of Cotopaxi has a very large population of the Condor. I was hoping we would see but the inly way to see one is if we hiked Cotopaxi, however we skipped the hike because we were so late and had to view the volcano from a separate area where there was a lake and a trail around the lake that we hiked instead. Next to the road in this area there was a post that had a digital clock and an alarm on it and had a solar panel on the top. Another park another sign of solar power. The alarm system senses tremors and sounds when it hits a certain threshold, from the time the siren starts you have 25 min to evacuate. We were just praying to not hear that siren. While on our hike around the lake we talked about how horses are a problem in the park and are an invasive species because their foot steps cerate holes in the ground that kill certain low lying endemic species. They are getting the park from escaping from surrounding farms, or sometimes the owners just let them free. We also talked about how the people in the surrounding towns can live peacefully, and Diego explained to us that most people think they are crazy but they don’t care because they believe that the virgin Mary is protecting them and that the volcano is nothing that they can control so you might as well just live your life the way you would if it wasn’t there because if it erupts it erupts and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I really admire that mindset, there is no need to live in fear because when you do you miss out on so much of life.
Then as we were waiting we gained a couple more doggie friends. They followed us for the entire hike and most of the time we were there, but it was only because we were giving them food and they were hungry. Diego was telling us that these dogs try to hunt but it is very hard for them so a lot of them are very hungry and become malnourished. We kept feeding them the ham and cheese sandwiches the hotel gave us for breakfast at 5 am so obviously they were going to be with us the entire time. They were cool dogs though and they were crazy running down the side to the mountain not on trails, they own the land. The hike down was tough, very steep and winding and the ground was easy to lose your footing on especially in steep areas. As the hike went on it started getting hotter and hotter, the morning it started so cold we were all bundled up but at we got closer and closer to midday it was heating up. The whole way down I was thinking how terrible the hike up was going to be. They mentioned that there might be mules that you could ride up for 10 dollars which I was definitely interested in but we were there kind of early, so we weren’t sure if they would be down there yet. We got to the bottom and noticed that there was a little lodge with bathrooms and next to it were a set of solar panels to generate power for that and the small area at the bottom. Seems like a consistent theme in these parks which is a theme that I love to see. At the bottom we waited for the activities like kayaking to be open but no one ever came down at the time they said they would open and they ended up being late which didn’t give us the chance to go kayaking out on the lake, which was a bummer. But we got to sit and take in the tranquil scenery and sounding area. Seeing things like tis right in front of your eyes is so powerful to me and I love the feeling it gives me. You just feel so at peace and like nothing else in the world matters other what it right there in front of you, very calming. I enjoyed my time taking in the sights and then it was time to go up, as we were about to go up we saw some mules coming down! I was so excited and ready to pay my 10 dollars on that Mule ride. Me, Greg, Haley, Laurel, Diego, and his wife took the mules and it was a very interesting and sometimes nerve-wracking experience. First of all, it was a pretty steep and long climb up I couldn’t believe the mule could maneuver up that so well, but they did, the only thing that was worrisome is they would sometime try to pass each other and almost cut each other off and bump and whatnot. I just didn’t want to get thrown off my mule. At one-point laurels mule stumbled and almost fell but luckily caught itself. We made it to the top within like 15-20 minutes, everyone that hiked it took them and 1.5-2 hours. And they all wanted to drop dead when they finally made it lol.
We were now a little behind in terms of or schedule, we went to Cotopaxi next. Cotopaxi is an active volcano that last erupted in 2015. The park was actually close for a while before the trip we actually thought we were going to be able to go because it was at risk but apparently it just opened. The eruption in 2015 wiped out the surrounding area including the native forest. There are now effort to reforest this are but the trees that are being planted are Canadian Pines which are not natural to south America. This management decision has the potential to alter that ecosystem for years to come. The park of Cotopaxi has a very large population of the Condor. I was hoping we would see but the inly way to see one is if we hiked Cotopaxi, however we skipped the hike because we were so late and had to view the volcano from a separate area where there was a lake and a trail around the lake that we hiked instead. Next to the road in this area there was a post that had a digital clock and an alarm on it and had a solar panel on the top. Another park another sign of solar power. The alarm system senses tremors and sounds when it hits a certain threshold, from the time the siren starts you have 25 min to evacuate. We were just praying to not hear that siren. While on our hike around the lake we talked about how horses are a problem in the park and are an invasive species because their foot steps cerate holes in the ground that kill certain low lying endemic species. They are getting the park from escaping from surrounding farms, or sometimes the owners just let them free. We also talked about how the people in the surrounding towns can live peacefully, and Diego explained to us that most people think they are crazy but they don’t care because they believe that the virgin Mary is protecting them and that the volcano is nothing that they can control so you might as well just live your life the way you would if it wasn’t there because if it erupts it erupts and there is nothing anyone can do about it. I really admire that mindset, there is no need to live in fear because when you do you miss out on so much of life.