Day 5 Cotopaxi

Breakfast was included in the $21 price at the Posada Tambuca. We had fruit, toast, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, ham and cheese and fresh juice.  I am always worried something won’t work out or a connection will fall through.  So it was a relief when the driver showed up early to take us to our next destination in Cotopaxi.  

 The driver only spoke a little English so we didn’t really learn anything on the trip because we speak no Spanish.  There was a lot of traffic leaving Quito.  Then when we got into the county side the roads took a turn for the worse.  We drove for several miles on a cobblestone road.  It didn’t slow the driver down and made me wonder how long a vehicle would hold up here.  

 We made it to the hacienda around 9:00.  We dropped off our luggage and head right out to the horses. 

The weather was calling for rain the three days we were scheduled to be there so I was happy to at least get a glimpse of the volcano.  I had visions of it being like when we went to Mt Rushmore and it was completely fogged in.  

As it turned out, our driver was also our guide and the owner of the horses.  His name was Patricio.  Jose was our interpreter that met up with us at the hacienda. 

The horses were all saddled in short order and we headed out.  I road Apache and Joe rode a bay mare we never really understood the name of.   We fell into line going down the road, our guide leading a spare horse in front, then me, then Joe, and Jose bringing up the rear. 

We reached the entrance to the Cotopaxi National Park.  That is pretty much all it was, an entrance. 

But the park was anything but underwhelming, it was spectacular.

There was even a herd of bull fighting cattle. 

And Jose was nice enough to send pictures he took of us. 

 I took my own version of togetheries.  

The terrain, views and plants changed around every turn and with every step.  My head was on a swivel and I was taking an endless stream of pictures and videos.

That is Cotopaxi in the background, clouded over.

We had lunch near some pine trees out of the wind.  Jose had packed a nice meal for us. 

The horses enjoyed the break tied to small shrubberies. 

After lunch there was more scenery to explore.

It started getting colder so ponchos were donned.  Then it started to rain.

You may have noticed that I am on a different horse.  Apparently, Apache does not like rain ponchos so I switched horses with Patricio.  

By this time we had about 20 pounds of coats and ponchos on.  When we got back and it had stopped raining it was a relief to get all the extra weight off.  It also just didn’t feel right to have someone else do all of the work while we just sauntered back to the hacienda.  I am guessing we covered around 12 miles during our 5 hour ride. 

We had a beautiful view from our room.

And we walked around the grounds before dinner. 

Lots of interesting flowers, birds and views to enjoy and a delicious dinner of potato soup and spaghetti to savor.