IV. SA Ecuador/W2b, 5d: Quito & Cotop EN

Fr, 05.05. Quito: City
I arrived Friday early in the morning in Ecuador's capital and after La Paz the 2nd highest capital in the world Quito. The city is also located at an high altitude of 2,850m, directly on the Equator and thus very close to the sun - so be aware of altitude sickness and sun burn :) There are always 12h of daylight, no seasons and no weather reports - you will always find 100% rain and 20* on the apps. It is the 2nd largest city in Ecuador, counting 2mio habitants.
Ecuador and Quito in particular are also known for frequent robberies, especially in (night) buses: never put your bag on the floor and always keep an eye on it - I used to hold or use it as pillow.
Typical food here is 'seco chivo' (lamb stew with yellow rice, boiled potatoe, avocadoe, onions, tomatoe and lettuce) as well as again 'encebollado' (fish soup).
My hostel was fortunately not located in the a bit unsafe tourist area Mariscal but in the old town - for only $4 pretty cheap but for a good reason with being by far the dirtiest hostel I have ever stayed in :P

In order to get to know the city and some people I went to the Free City Tour in the morning.
We started in San Blas and first went to the market to see many exotic fruits such as Fruta de Arbol (bush tomatoe), very rich in vitamin C and thus also used as medecine with honey or Naranjilla (Lulu in Colombia), a sour tomatoe type. Apart from apples and grapes imported from Chile all fruits are local and we tried several juices - for sure 'sin azùcar' (without sugar) :P
After that we went to the main square Plaza Grande and saw the presidential palace as well as many churches and museums; Iglesia La Basilica, Compañia, San Francisco, La Merced, San Augustin and Museo de la Ciudad.

Ecuador is after Kenya and Colombia the 3rd biggest oil exporting country, with the oil being extracted in the Amazon rainforest.
Moreover, there is a universal citizenship, i.e. every tourist has the same rights than a local - including free health care etc. The borders are open and there are 35,000 immigrants every year, mainly from Venezuela and Colombia but also coloured (especially on the Northern coast around Esmeraldas ) and Syrians.
In 1998 there was such a financial breakdown that 3mio people between 18-35y left the country. All savings were lost, the currency was changed from Sucre to USD - a radical change, in 1998 $1=5,000S, in 1999 $1=25,000S, an inflation rate of 500% in 1y. The state then started with subventions such as free education, health care, WiFi and public transport - that's the reason why buses are relatively cheap, but EC mainly convinces with good quality in exports and the $1 coins can only be used here; the country lives on tourism and its expatriates sending money back home.
Quito is Quichua and means middle earth, centre of the world on the Equator and is thus a lot closer to the sun and the perfect observatory; the closest point is Plaza San Francisco - the mekka of the Inkas who always wanted to be closest to the sun.
The city is like a long sausage - 60km long and 8km wide with one of the highest Mountain Ranges in South America.
After that we went to the cute artist quarter La Ronda and saw the Panecillo Statue before I had a nice fish soup in the evening.

Sa, 06.05. Quito: Volcán Pichincha & Mitad del Mundo
On Saturday we took Quito's famous Teleférico lift and went up to an altitude of 4,050m. Unfortunately we were not really lucky with the weather - it was again super cloudy and rainy. However, we decided to hike to Pichincha volcano at 4,768m. The hike was super nice but we were so stuck in the clouds with heavy rain and even hail that we turned around after 1,5h, walked for another hr and then enjoyed a nice avocado lunch.

After that I took a 1,5h bus to Mitad del Mundo - again pretty long and exhausting as the buses in EC constantly stop to invite random sellers of sweets, snacks or other unhealthy food who are really annoying with their life stories and also make travelling with the bus more unsafe. There are also many immigrants and most people are a bit overweighed - no wonder considering all the meat, fried food and constant snacks :P However, it is a shame as they have so many fruits and vegetables; but they put a whole big spoon of sugar in the juices and the meals always have double amount of carbs, mostly rice and French fries.
Mitad del Mundo or Middle Earth is a big Monument with some museums but the French did a wrong calculation so that the real 0.0.0. lies 15m further away at Calacali.

Su, 07.05. Secret Garden: Waterfalls
Together with Simone who I got to know during the Free Walking Tour I went to the Secret Garden Hostel Cotopaxi on Sunday, located 2h south from Quito and 1h away from Machachi.
The hostel was absolutely amazing: landscapes like in Hobbinton, New Zealand with lush, evergreen hills and in case of good weather with direct view to Cotopaxi Volcano from the net or hammocks, incredibly much and delicious food, free bananas, banana bread, tea and water, fireplaces, dogs, cool voluntary staff and a jacuzzi as absolute highlight - it was just a bit touristy, there were only German, Brits and American, hardly any Spanish but only English spoken and the food was sometimes also very western.
In the afternoon we then had a 2h hike to some waterfalls through super nice enchanted, rainforest similar forests - a hike in boots and poncho incl rock climbing which I then also improved with the jacuzzi and was even better with a delicious pasta dinner and chocolate brownie as desert for dinner :)))

Mo, 08.05. Secret Garden: Pasochoa Volcanoe
I finally had a longer hike again on that day - 5-6h in total, 3h uphill through super lush green fields, enchanted forests, ashes, rock climbing up to the 4,200m high summit of Pasochoa Volcano. It was by far the most muddy and slippery hike I ever had as well as the longest one in boots but despite rain and no views it was a lot of fun and something different ;)
After a delicious typical rice with beans lunch I treated myself again in the jacuzzi which was so hot this time that I could easily walk 10m at 8*C outside :O
In the evening we then had a good time around the fireplace incl guitar playing :)

Tu, 09.05. Secret Garden: Cotopaxi Volcano
Yippee, we went to my highlight that day:
Cotopaxi Volcano - with 5,897m the 2nd highest active volcano in the world after Chimborazo with 6,310m located in Riobamba and due to its location on the Equator the mountain closest to the sun (closer than Mt Everest).
The name stands for neck and moon, the last eruption was in 1877 roughly 130y ago and it should usually erupt every 100y. Due to its activity it has also been closed in 2015, at the moment you can only get as high as to the Refugio at an altitude of 4,864m - which we also did from the car park starting at 4,600m. You can also see the global warming here - in 2015 the glacier was at 5,000m and today only 2 years later it is already at 5,100m. Only the Sunday before 5 people illegally hiked up the glacier, causing an avalanche but fortunately only got hurt, nobody died.
The hike itself was quite exhausting due to the altitude, but it was also very windy and cold. We started with 5* but at the Refugio it was only 0-1*, it was snowing and there was some snow so that I got a bit childish and spontaneously built a small snowman ;)
Similar to Machu Picchu in Peru you also got a stamp in your passport and we were then treated with a hot chocolate, sandwich and banana cake.
After that we drove back through amazing volcano landscape and after a nice delicious last lunch continued 2h in a private van to Latacunga where we arrived in the late afternoon.Read more