Stepping slowly so the volcano wouldn't wake up
These days I greeted for his birthday a friend who received me at his home when I traveled to Ecuador, he told me about the alerts and awareness of evacuation routes that remain in force and active in the population.
I remembered that it is a country prone to earthquakes, eruptions, landslides, its people are used to living in these conditions.
I really fell in love with the natural and tourist sites I visited. Today I share with you my trip to Cotopaxi National Park.
On my trip to Ecuador I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Cotopaxi Volcano, also called the great Colossus. It is one of the most exciting trips I have made, I will not deny that I was accompanied by the fear that my footsteps would awaken the volcano.
There are several attractions in this mysterious park, visit the lagoons, walks for hikers. The park is so extensive that it takes many days to explore and get to know it. On this trip I only enjoyed the ascent to the volcano. It has been the most exciting adventure I have ever done.
3 pants, 2 pairs of socks, 3 shirts, gloves, mountain cap, special boots, I who come from an almost perfect tropical climate like the one we have in Venezuela, was ready for the novelty of experiencing temperatures unknown to me before. If you are going to go to that place, you should take care to wear the most comfortable attire..
About 45 kilometers south of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is located one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. This is one of the messages that the guide transmitted to me before starting the ascent.
All the tourists are given a talk inside a small shelter that has photos, maps and take the opportunity to give us the indications that we must follow to preserve the place.
I baptized the Cotopaxi as My Sacred Coffee Mountain, it looked like coffee at my feet.
I find it easy to interact with people, in these photos I appear with Colombian and Chilean tourists that I met along the way. We all share the excitement of being on this journey
I could not believe that I had already climbed so many kilometers.
My ascent was really slow, not in a hurry, taking care not to slip, enjoying the path totally covered by the fog.
I didn't bother to take any more photos, I was so involved in the experience that it was enough for me to live the moment intensely and that every step I took was enough to make me feel that I was in the right place.
Arriving at the shelter I was freezing cold and felt that I needed to go to the bathroom and get something warm.
At the place I was offered coca tea, which according to the tour guide, has the property of curing altitude sickness.
The truth is that I did not love the taste, however I appreciated the effect of warming my body with the sips I took.
Mr. Jose is from Ecuador, he has all his life working the land and as a tour guide.
The Cotopaxi, which is 5897 meters above sea level, we only reached a point where we could have contact with the snow because we did not have special alpine equipment to achieve it. The Ascent lasted approximately 5 hours.
I am Venezuelan, the only place that has snow in my country is part of the Andes, ironically being from here, I have not had the joy of visiting, it is in my next tourist plans.
However, in the trip I made to Ecuador I was able to experience this sensation.
Here I am bent over because I had slipped hahaha, in fact a few days later a big bruise formed on the back of my right leg, nothing serious.
If you ask me what is the photo that best reflects my walk to this volcano, I can tell you that this is it! the feeling of victory, gratitude and total adventure.
When I see this photo comes to my mind the memory that with each step my feet were buried in the dark sand and it required a great effort on my part not to sink my feet too much.
There I was on my way back, accompanied by the excellent tour guide Don José.
This beautiful stone in the shape of a heart I found it arriving at the top, it is not the first time that I am doing a hike and it takes me to an internal conversation where I ask for messages, answers to what surrounds me at the moment and a heart appears.
Thank you for having accompanied me on this remembered journey.
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