Cotopaxi
ECUADOR
Cotopaxi & Quilotoa with The Biking Dutchman
By AARON
Sunday, September 21, 2008
So it would seem that Lyndi and I have the unique ability to harness the power of bad weather, and take it with us wherever we go. I think back to the rain that fell in Quetzaltenango’s water park when we were there, or the “I’ve never seen it this bad” quote from our guide as we hiked up Tajamulco, so it did not suprise us one bit when our guide, Mauricio, commented “wow, it’s never been this bad” as we approached our first mountain bike run with the Biking Dutchman.
Waking up at 6am that morning, we met our fellow bikers at The Magic Bean coffee shop in Quito, where we would be picked up for our 2-day mountain biking excursion for the Cotopaxi/Quilotoa circuit. On the way there, we got to know our fellow travelers in our truck as we exchanged stories, drank really hot coffee, and complemented the Canadian couple for living in the coolest named city in the world by far: “Thunder Bay”. That’s like having the name “Max Powers”, or something to that degree which just demands respect every time you say it; and although they were not vice cops chasing down drug criminals in their over-accessorized cigarette boat while tossing out witty one-liners (as I had fantasized upon hearing the name of the city), they were nonetheless very nice people.
When we arrived at the Cotopaxi National Park, we couldn’t help but notice that the large, ominous, snow capped volcano was nowhere in sight. Did it move? Was it on break? It was low season by the way… but no, it was just the enormous low hanging clouds that decided to follow Lyndi and me yet again that were blocking our view of this beautiful sight. As we took the road/trail up the volcano, slowly the snow capped peak came into view. Unfortunately, the snow decided to travel a little too far down the mountain, hindering our trip by about 1km, as we were forced to stop below the starting point, and complete the first part of our circuit on a snow-covered road. The first part of the biking experience felt like mountain biking in Montana. In the winter. As our bikes slipped and slided down the windy road, we finally came upon the trail where the snow had no choice but to surrender to the higher temperatures and melt.
The rest of the trip down was great as we flew down the hills, jumped rocks and took in the surrounding views. Our first stop was at a restaurant halfway down the volcano, and we all patiently waited on Lyndi, who finally arrived averaging a laser-fast 4mph (while driving in the left hand lane with her right blinker on the whole time).
Lunch was enjoyed, and hopes restored as the clouds started breaking up a bit, and word spread that our second leg of the Cotopaxi trail was to be mostly downhill. After waiting exactly 1/2 hour for our food to settle, we donned our sweet elbow and kneepads, plus a helmet, and headed downhill again. The second leg was half asphalt, half dirt, so we were able to pick up even more speed this time, even passing a bus in the process. As each of us slowly filtered in at the entrance to the park to load up our bikes for the day, we noticed we were short one person……………………. ……………………………… ………………………………. ……………………………… ……………………………… …………….. ……………….. “There she is!” cried girl from Thunder Bay, as Lyndi triumphantly rounded the last corner at breakneck speed (for a sloth) and finished with a sweet skid-on-dirt to the applause of the rest of us.
Starting with 8 people for the day, only three of us were going to do the 2 day tour, so the other 5 loaded up and headed back to Quito, and the remaining 3 of us loaded up in the other truck and headed towards Quilotoa with our guide Mauricio. The trip took about another 2 1/2 hours as we winded through the Andes taking in stunning views of the surrounding landscape. We arrived in the small town of Quilotoa around 5pm, and once we were settled in to our hostel, we checked out the huge crater lake that is the main attraction of Quilotoa. Words and pictures can’t do this place justice as the actual crater itself is massive, and when one looks over the edge and down below to the emerald color lake, the people there appear as just specs to the human eye.
That night, we met a couple other people in our hostel that were visiting Quilotoa by bus. It was a fun night as we huddled around a small furnace, ate dinner, and watched as our third party, Jay, repeatedly parried off advances from an obviously “in heat” 38 year old traveler named Kim. It was that night as well, that we learned our Ecuadorian guide, Mauricio, spoke fluent English, Spanish, and French, with a bit of German as well as he effortlessly changed languages at the flip of a coin, talking to everyone in the place. Nothing beats a well traveled, well rounded guide. (Sensing this later on in the evening, Kim gave up on Jay and turned her sights to Mauricio, who told us later that he locked his door that night for fear of rape.)
Next morning Lyndi and I walked down to the crater lake with Jay, which took about 2 hours round trip. As I said before, you just don’t appreciate how large this thing was until you peer down at the kayaks for rent below and can barely see them. Afterwards, we packed up everything, and did our first circuit of the day from Quilotoa to a small town 14km away. Once again, the views were amazing as we biked downhill from Quilotoa, then on the valley floor admired the pastoral landscape and passing locals herding sheep and harvesting corn. Once in the city, all of us complimented Lyndi on her time, as she was definitely getting the feel for her bike, finishing not too far behind us. We then packed up the bikes and rode for about an hour to the highest point on the road back to Cotopaxi, where we would be dropped off and finish our trek with a 26km downhill sprint on asphalt to the town below. This second leg was crazy as we never once had to pedal, just made sure that we didn’t ram head first into any oncoming trucks as we tore down the windy mountain road.
We finished our tour and enjoyed lunch behind a gas station where Lyndi and I took overhead pictures of each other, as it was September 23rd, and the vernal equinox was today, which being so close to the equator gave us no shadow as the sun passed directly overhead at 12 noon. Mauricio then dropped Lyndi and I off in Latacunga, a small town south of Quito where we said our goodbyes and headed to our next destination: Baños.
