Cotopaxi

We took an overnight trip up to the volcano called Cotopaxi. The elevation of the tip of this volcano is over 19,000 feet, but as we have not had the time to train for this type of summit, we just hung around at the base of the volcano. We went on a horseback riding trip that gave some great views of the countryside in this area. Since Scott and I are not used to horseback riding, we were incredibly sore by the end of our four hour journey. I greatly needed my cousin Kelly, who is the pro at riding to help me out in guiding my horse. She did not want to listen to me at all. Actually, I´m not sure if it was a she or a he, but as she took on many of my own characteristics, we will call her she. She would not turn when I told her to and even kept taking off in gallops whenever she felt like it. She did not like following at all, whereas Scott´s horse loved to just follow behind any other horse he could find. It was fun gaining a connection with my horse for those 4 hours. She would stop and move her head up as to communicate with me and after I pet her neck, she would continue on. I should mention that the ride was only supposed to be 3 hours, but our guide kept getting lost. so it took another full hour.



We kept running into streams and so we would have to continue on until we found a way to cross. Our guide didn´t say a single word to us the entire time - not even hello. That was a little weird. I think I had a much better time than Scott because he was noticeably more sore than me at the end and for days after, but I very much appreciated him going with me. We did keep seeing wild horses in the fields and they were so pretty. I thought our horses must be so jealous of the wild one. The views were great and we very much enjoyed Tambopaxi, the hotel where we stayed. It is a base for many people climbing the summit and we were able to see some of these people in the telescope that they had there.