cotopaxi

so i decided to leave quito on a bank holiday. the bus station was hectic. after about an hour of trying to figure out the logistics of tickets which termianal to go to, etc. i managed to stand in the right bundle for the bus... it was mayhem... sort of a riot to try and get on a bus, with angry police puching people, people climbing into windows and dogs being thrown through windows. i managed to get on - just! - and get a seat with my pack securely on my lap. latachunga my destination, i made small talk with the locals on the back seat.

the hostal (cafe tianna) is beautiful, but quiet. after a few drinks with the dutch owner and her ecuadorian husband the ipòd made its way onto the pa.

the following morning 2 german girls, myself and our guide drove us the hour and a half up winding dirt track needed to reach the base of cotopaxi. it´s beautiful. STUNNING. a 6000m, glacier topped, mountain... bigger than any in europe. the hike took about 2hour to get to a meeting building. from there we trundled to the snow, encouraging one of the girls who was so big headed at the start as to say it would be "easy". when we got there, it was a white out, expected but still a bit dissappointing as i am certain the view would have been amazing.

it was well worth doing and made me feel as though my adventure had started.

next stop riobamba or banos. x

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telerifiquo

after about four hours sleep we headed over to the base of the telerifiquo... a mulit million dollar cable car that seems so out of place in this city. it took us to 4100m which was enough to have me light headed. got some great photos as the view was pretty amazing, but it was a bit of a box ticker.

the best part of the day was when the go karts we´d heard about at the bottom of the ride turned out to be pretty impressive. 10 dollars for about half an hour but so worth it and made nicks and my day.

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"i´ve just been fucking robbed"

...she said as she came up the stairs on wednesday night. there´s been a few stories and events that have opened my eyes, and everyone in the hostels´, to how dangerous quito can be. the girl was on the last day of her trip about to fly home in the evening, she was at the end of the street at about 6pm when 5 guys jumped her and put her to the ground - taking her camera with the weeks photos and a bit of cash.

so a few of us decided to head into the mariscal (gringo land), a place that the lonely planet and the foreign office warn to not go to. the 3 irish girls, nick (aussie) and i had a pretty good evening and although we could feel the eyes on our backs and we could see the hookers, pimps and fellow gringos a mile off - we were safe as a group.

so funny drunken antics insued and come the end of the night nick and i looked forward to promises of shepherds pie friday night a la irish girls... i think i can stay another few nights. latacunga can wait.

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