That day, Kenny, Alex, and I toured around the city, snapping shots of the cathedral and architecture.
We found an international dessert festival, which, to be quite honest, was not very excited or tasty. Though the surprise hard candy that exploded in your mouth into a shot of whiskey was noteworthy.
We headed to a food market and got lots of fruit and veggies for crazy cheap. When we got back to the hostel, we were a bit popped, and relaxed a bit before dinner. I went off to find a tour of a huge volcano about an hour away, called Cotopaxi. The volcano is topped off by as glacier, and is supposed to be an amazing hike. The tour guide sold me on the trip, though he did mention that the hike was no joke. We would have to use ice picks and shoe spikes, and be tied to a partner for the ascent, which started at 4,800 meters at midnight. He suggested we attempt to hike a smaller mountain to test our hiking abilities before signing up for Cotopaxi. Optimistic, I reported back to Kenny and Alex. We were siked about Cotopaxi, and would attempt the smaller Pichincha volcano the next day. We heading up to the rooftop of the hostel to make dinner, drank a couple drinks with others, played some cards, and headed to bed.
The next day, we farted around for several hours, before heading out. We arrived at the TeleferiQo to ascend Pichincha, for the three hour hike to the top. Neither Kenny nor Alex had ever been on a cable car, so the adventure started out a bit anxiously for them.
At the top, we started out. The views of the city were spectacular, and the scenery only got better as we progressed. The hiking part though was, in fact, no joke. The altitude made breathing laborious, and at times the path was a foot wide with incredibly aggressive drop offs on both sides. At times, you had to pause, because you felt so dizzy you could misstep and tumble down to your death. I progressed a bit faster than Kenny and Alex, and eventually couldn't even see them, but I continued. Suddenly the path ran right into a rock wall. Was I supposed to climb this rock wall with no ropes? I started up to see if a birds-eye-view might better guide me. It did...but I apparently climbed too far, and had to try and go back down a bit. Where the hell was Kenny?!?
Got back on the path, but things seemed to be getting more difficult. The path was often hidden by sand or rock slide, but I kept going. I got a bit nervous as I progressed, because I saw lots of graffiti on the rocks, so I knew kids had been up there acting like idiots, and Medellin kept popping in my head. Mace in one hand, Kenny nowhere to be found, I kept going. Finally, around a bend, I spotted them, wayyyy behind me, but at least still moving, or at least they had been, but we're resting at the time. I finally got to a part of the mountain completely covered in sand. I started climbing, at about a 60 degree angle, hand over foot. Every step I took, I would slide back half a step in the sand, and every 10 steps, I had to catch my breath. I could feel the top of the volcano was so close; just at the top of this sand. Fog started rolling in pretty intensely, and all i could see was about 15 feet around me. Finally, I heard Alex's voice yelling out to me. They hadn't moved since I last saw them, which I could not anymore, but they said they were turning back and would meet me at the bottom. Like hell they would!!
I was not going to be up there alone, completely vulnerable, and gasping for air. I finally turned back to meet back up with them. It was getting pretty late anyway, so it wasn't the worst decision. I was just kinda bummed, because I know I was so close. As we exhaustedly headed back, serious fog clouds rolled in, so you couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you, and then...hail!! Not kidding, we started running as the hail was pelting us. It started getting dark, and the hail turned to rain, and my body was screaming at me, but this damn trail would not end!
Finally, we saw the cable cars again, and practically fell over one another trying to get in to sit. We got back to the hostel, dirty, wet and exhausted. All I wanted to do was soak in a hot bath (yea right), but we had plans. I had a friend, of Eliza's actually, who is living here, and we had set up dinner plans. After some quick showers, we went to meet Sandra at Remolo e Remo, and super yummy and cheap italian restaurant. After gorging ourselves (we hadn't eaten since the morning), we said goodbye to Sandra and the nice people she introduced to us, and went back to the hostel to pass.out! Cotopaxi was unfortunately outside of our hiking abilities.
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