Pachamama // Mother Earth

Happy Earth Day!

Volcán Cotopaxi

On this stunningly sunny day in Quito I thought it would be nice to have a short but sweet little post about the beautiful place I’m in, and my weekend adventure especially since today is all about appreciating the wonderful world we live in. Today has been my best definition of a semi-lazy Sunday. I woke up around 9AM, sat down at the breakfast table with a delicious breakfast and property brothers on Netflix, cleaned my room, and headed to the gym. After my workout I took a nice lazy walk to el parque Carolina which was buzzing with people as it always is on a Sunday afternoon. I stopped at the local Freshii for a giant rice bowl filled with chicken, kale, beets and other goodies and now here I am, writing this post and taking in the sun and the city.

Luckily I haven’t been in the city all weekend. My Friday night was spent in Quito where I first took a stop with my friends in Centro Histórico to walk around la Ronda (the oldest street in Quito), eat some empanadas and have a beer. We talked, and laughed and I allowed my Ecuadorian friend to order an empanada for me. Little did I know, he had ordered me an empanada de viento which is basically a giant elephant ear with a pocket of cheese in it. I let everyone else devour the cheese but was still unable to finish the giant piece of fried dough that was twice the size of my head. So PSA: if you ever order an empanada de viento it can easily be split among 3 people. When we were done, we headed to la plaza Foch to finish off our night in a little (slightly trashy) discoteca called Bungalow. When I finally got home around 1:30AM, I was tired, a little buzzed and not quite ready to wake up 5 hours later for my adventure the following day.

So I woke up at 6:30AM the following morning to head up for a hike at Cotopaxi, which is currently the most active volcano in Ecuador. It was about an hour and a half drive and luckily for us, a friend offered to drive us so we didn’t have to attempt to navigate the bus system. When we first got there we stopped at a little lagoon off to the side that gave us a beautiful view of the landscape and was the perfect spot to get a far off shot of the volcano, which was halfway submerged in the clouds. You could just see the snow peeking out from under the cloud cover and as we were standing in a spot where it was a comfortable 50 degrees at least, I couldn’t imagine that it could really get THAT much colder. Unfortunately I was wrong and even more unfortunately none of the clothes that I had packed for Ecuador could shield me from that kind of weather (after all, we are on the Equator, you don’t really think about bringing your winter coat). We started off our hike at a spot part way up Cotopaxi that could be accessed by car. It wasn’t too bad at first. It was a little chilly (but I had on a beanie and a big sweatshirt), and I could feel the altitude but it wasn’t too tough yet. It began to get a little tougher as we got higher up. It’s not that at any point I felt really out of breath, it was just that with every breath I took, I felt like I couldn’t get quite enough air to go into my lungs. It was a strange feeling where I wasn’t heaving, but I was uncomfortable. We took small steps, and we took them slowly so that we didn’t kill ourselves and could actually enjoy the hike.

As we got up the volcano higher and higher, it got colder and colder. It started off as just chilly, the wind nipped at your nose a little bit but it was definitely manageable (after all, I’m from the Northwest and Ecuadorians don’t know REAL cold). Then we hit the altitude at which we were literally in the clouds, so it was easily 40 degrees but felt colder since the wind was whipping and we were getting hit in the faces with tiny water droplets. I was doing alright aside from two things: my face and my hands. My hands tend to run pretty cold generally and I swear I felt like they were going to fall off. I had them shoved inside of my North Face the entire way up, but unfortunately I was gloveless and windbreakers can’t save you from that kind of chill. We finally reached the refugio which sits on Cotopaxi at 15,953 ft altitude, and we were all ready for something to warm our bodies. We headed inside and sat down for a nice big cup of hot chocolate. Now granted, this probably wasn’t the best hot chocolate that I had ever had in my life, but at a moment in time where I was so dang cold, it tasted like heaven. After our little rest stop, we were ready to continue on higher where we could see a little snow. However, when we stepped back into that biting cold air, and looked at that uphill slope we decided we were going to call it a day. We were perfectly content getting as far as we had, and didn’t really feel the need to go any farther. It had been a good hike and we were happy.

We headed back down the steep slope to the parking lot, hopped in the car and headed back to Quito where we were greeted with that good old big city traffic that we got stuck in for at least 2 hours, while it was pouring rain. We passed the time by jamming out to music from the late 2000’s. When I finally got dropped off back at home, I made myself some popcorn, switched on a movie and snuggled up in my bed where, mid-movie, I quickly fell asleep. It was a long, tiring, yet good for your soul kind of day and I was ok spending my Saturday night curled up under my covers, dreaming of the next little adventure that I would be taking.

Ecuador is a beautiful country with so much nature, and biodiversity to offer. I’m so glad to have been able to spend so much time somewhere that has such breathtaking landscapes and wildlife. Even more than that, being surrounded by the landscapes here, reminds me to appreciate all of the nature that I am surrounded by at home. Both Ecuador and the PNW are so gorgeous in their own way and I love that there is a whole day in which I can celebrate all of the beauty that the world has to offer, both in my travels, and in my home.

Chao por ahora,

Claire