Cotopaxi is one of the most loved volcanoes in Ecuador. People love to see it majestically stand heads about the plains around it. The Cotopaxi national park that surrounds this majestic peak has its own charm in the form lakes and different landscapes which one would normally need to travel miles to savour.
Some sights on the way to the mountain.
Panecillo
A panorama of city of Quito on the way to Cotopaxi
We left for the peak early in the morning and enjoyed the vistas offered by Ecuador's countryside. The entrance to the park is a steep 10 dollars if you are not a Ecuadorian citizen and do not have the national card. For the Ecuadorian nationals and the ones with Ecuadorian national card the entrance is 2 USD.
At the entrance to the park, where one buys the ticket one has the skull of a few herbivores mounted on poles. Not sure why it has been kept there.
One of the skulls at the entrance
One of the skulls at the entrance
After the entrance begins the long climb, fortunately one can still go in a vehicle, to the parking lot at 4500 meters. Quito is at about 2800 meters above sea level so that is a climb of 1700 meters and it takes as expected quite some. One starts with coniferous trees and one ends up with a bleak landscape as one moves up ahead. If one is lucky one can get a glimpse of peak as one goes up the mountains. But we were not fortunate enough. There was enough of clouds swarming around the peak to deny us a good view of the peak.
Finally we reached the parking lot at 4500 meters after a traversing a winding road. Here we got off and started walking up to the refugee camp which is at a height of 4800 meters. It looked like a easy hike, but it took us all of 50 minutes to scale that hike. But it was nice hauling oneself up the steep slope. There were enough people trying to reach the refugee camp. There were also children as young as 4 - 5 years doing the climb and smaller ones were being carried by the parents.
One of the real Young ones climbing
All covered up and on the way to the top
Some children climbing the Cotopaxi
Some others puffing their way up.
The Refugee camp in the backdrop on the way up
Successful Rajesh at 4810 meters
That one can see birds at this height is really surprising. But here it is.
The snow capped Cotopaxi
The snow above the Refugee camp
The boy celebrating his fourth birthday at the refugee camp. What a birthday gift!!
At the refugee camp they have a small restaurant which serves hot soup and hot chocolate and has a little provisions of biscuits and chocolates. The former were very much required after climbing up the incline and we helped ourselves to hot chocolate and soup based on preference.
After a brief rest we went to explore a little above the refugee camp but we sorely lacked the ability to make any substantial progress. It was freezing cold. So after going up a few meters we went back to the refugee camp and had one more round of soup and hot chocolate and then we started the descent to the parking lot.
When we reached the parking lot we realized that our driver was hungry and so we shared some food that we had brought with us and after partially satisfying his hunger and to some extent ours we headed back to the plains.
On the way stopped at a Lake which offers a spectacle of the surrounding peaks reflected in it. Also there are birds which add to the beauty of the place.
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