Cotapaxi

The bus trip to Cotapaxi was probably one of the best ever, still under the influence from the night before we had a road beer and were spreading happiness to the other 6 passengers on our bus. I was riding shotgun and the driver borrowed my beer to show his friend before having a sip. About an hour and a half into the ride the girls began to crash, so I continued  a Spanglish conversation with the bus driver and John and Flick an Australian couple. The road to the secret garden hostel is about an hour long and extremely bumpy. About two miles from the hostel we pass four saddled horses, I decided I'd 'rescue them' and ride them back to the hostel. Up on the horse, but he's got better ideas and takes of sprinting the other direction, stopped the horse and ran back to the van. A few hundred metres up the road we see a man on a horse chasing after the runaway horses, pity I couldn't have been more helpful. We get to The hostel and are welcomed with a cup of mulled wine and soup for lunch. We decline a walk to the waterfall and instead relax in the hot tub for the afternoon. We had quiche for dinner and learnt a new game called Mafia, which was great fun and very entertaining. Up early Friday, a quick breakfast and Antoinne was leading us up a mountain. A tough four hour hike, a nude picture and a 4,000 metre poo we were back at secret garden for lunch.

 It was Rachel's birthday so the afternoon was spent in the hot tub with lots of red wine. Still can't believe I've started drinking red wine! We had vegetarian lasagne for dinner which was surprisingly good, the only thing that would have made it better was meat. The hostel gave us a huge cake for Rachel's birthday as well as desert. We had a great night and decided Saturday morning would be spent in bed. Saturday afternoon, we did a hike to the waterfall, it was only about 40 minutes and I jumped in for a quick dip but the water was freezing, still it was worth it for a free beer.

 Saturday night was burger night and they were massive, meat cravings vanished. We had a few more drinks Saturday and played Mafia again. Sunday morning was mountain biking, a 40 minute hike to attempt to see a completely cloud covered Cotapaxi. You could see the hostel the other side of the valley which was pretty cool so the walk wasn't entirely disastrous. Elbow and knee pads, we were ready to take on the mountain. You got some serious speed! I had some chain problems so it was important I didn't break to avoid me having to stop, this made my ride a lot more interesting and dangerous but was great fun. After lunch I said goodbye to the girls and headed to Baños with John and Flick.