Cotopaxi!!

I finally managed to attempt Cotopaxi this weekend! It was a hastily arranged trip. Marilyn talked to the company on Thursday afternoon, on Friday afternoon we went to get kitted out with all our stuff (crampons, boots, fleeces and waterproofs, ice-picks, sun-goggles, head torches...), and we left early on Saturday morning.

I swear the hardest part of the whole adventure was the hour-long hike to the refuge, which looked about 10 minutes up from the car park. I thought I was going to die, and that I should just turn round and go back there and then! The guides were shaking their heads at the sight of us struggling at the first piddly little hurdle. Although, in my defense, I had brought a ridiculously heavy load in my giant rucksack. I wanted to make sure that being too cold didn't stop me getting to the top, as it had on Kilimanjaro, so I'd brought so many clothes it was stupid. Plus the refuge is at an altitude of about 4,700m, which seriously limits your physical capabilities. After stowing some of our stuff in the lockers, and getting kitted out in our cold-weather gear, we hiked up to the glacier to practice climbing with our crampons and ice-picks, in preparation for the night ascent. The main climb starts in the middle of the night, with the intention of reaching the summit just after dawn, because when the sun rises, the ice melts and it becomes dangerous. So after dinner (which no-one ate much of due to the appetite-supressant effects of altitude), we were despatched to bed at about 7pm. I felt ready for it! However, the refuge was like a giant dormitory, with loads of iron bunks and no soft furnishing to absorb the sounds of people snoring, coughing, and getting up every 20 minutes to put their heavy snow boots on and go to the toilet. Plus I had a banging headache and felt a little queasy. So I got absolutely no sleep before the guides told us it was time to get up at midnight. It took us ages to actually leave the refuge, we took ages over breakfast (can you still call it breakfast if you eat at 12.30am??!!) and we took it in turns to try and persuade Brad (26 year old guy in the US army who's served in Iraq and such places) to try and come with us. But he was too ill; he had a huge headache and felt really sick.

We climbed tied together in teams of 3. I was with Jared (23 year old US "soccer" player) and our solely-Spanish-speaking guide Gustavo. It was bloody difficult. With the exception of the snow, crampons and ice-picks, it was pretty similar to Kili. At the beginning it wasn't too bad, but there was no respite from the steep ice-covered mountainsides and the ferocious, snow-laden winds. Once more, it was a matter of determination and mind over body. We didn't too too badly; we were one of the last groups to leave and we passed a fair few teams. A lot of climbers succombed to the effects of alitude or the difficulty of the task and turned back. We passed Marilyn and her fellow hiker, Martin (a really cool German cameraman, about 30) on their way down, after Marily felt too ill to continue. Our guide kept telling us that we were only 30 minutes from a sheltered place where we could have tea and chocolate, but he was definately lying! We finally got to a slightly less exposed place in a kind of ice-cave, and collapsed there for a while. I just wanted to go to sleep! We tried to keep warm by huddling, but I lost all feeling in my fingers after taking my gloves off to try and open my energy drink, which didn't work anyway. My Camelpack had frozen in the tube. A few minutes after we'd sat down, at about 6am, the complete darkness of the night was becoming less complete. Dawn was on the way. This meant two things: first, that it might get a bit warmer and more pleasant (yay), but second, that we had very little time to try for the summit (uh-oh). Jared clearly had enough in the tank to keep going, but I wasn't sure I did. We decided to go for it, and the first hurdle was a scramble up a really steep and horribly exposed section of the mountain. It was a hurdle too high for me. The wind was vicious, and hurled hard-frozen snow into our faces, making it impossible to see or breathe. My calves burned with every step. Being able to see the deep crevasses, blue beneath the surface, made me panic. When the guide told us that it was another two and a half hours to the top, two and a half hours which we didn't have, I decided that I'd done enough. With retrospect, I feel guilty because I think Jared could have made it. I offered to join another group going down and let him continue, but he said he was happy to come down.

When we returned to our semi-sheltered resting spot, dawn was breaking. It was amazing, and even though we didn't make it it was worth the climb to be there at that moment. Now, rather than only being able to make out, in the beam of our torches, the bit of snow immediately ahead of where we walked, we were gradually able to see the magical environment we had climbed into. An expanse of perfect whiteness loomed above and below us, and beautiful ice formations surrounded us. In the brief moments when the clouds cleared a little, we were treated to incredible views of the sierra stretching out beneath us, and we saw for the first time just how steep and scary was Cotopaxi. I took a fair few photos; it was too fantastic to think about how cold my fingers would get. I'm glad I did, because when we returned to the edge of the snow-cap, the clouds had engulfed the mountain again. The descent was like walking down a black diamond ski run, but with Jared leading carefully, with the aid of crampons and the ice-pick, and with the rope to secure us together, I wasn't too petrified. It took forever to get down though. We got back to the refuge at about 9.

The rest was pretty boring - we had a bit of food, met up with Brad and Marilyn, packed up our stuff and hiked back down the mountain to take our minibus back to Quito. Had a bit of lunch (in a very gringo Mongolian cafe), said goodbye to Martin, and went home for a much-needed shower. I was knackered. Still am - 10 hours of sleep isn't enough to recover from missing a whole night's sleep and climbing for 8 hours up a snow-capped mountain. I also have another cold, which maybe isn't too suprising after my weekend.

That was really the highlight of my week. I've been out a few times, played some "fuzball" at a bar with the worst table in the world ever, had a salsa class, and generally tried to improve my Spanish. It's definitely coming on! I've now got the future tenses, most of the past tenses, and some wierdo tense called the subjunctivo, as well as lots more of the little gramatical details. It's quite exciting! Other that that, erm... no mucho! One of the taxi's I took home one night was stopped by the police for an illegal u-turn, and the policeman took his licence. I had no idea what to do, but figured it was best to get out quick and find another taxi! Saw a fat old lady wearing an English hoodie with the word "HOTTIE" emblazoned across her chest. As I said, English isn't that widely understood over here. Have experienced some classic "carnaval" fun when I had a balloon of water thrown at me from a passing car.

This is my last week at the school, weird! Jared's been here since early January and has 3 months more or so, but said yesterday lunch time that he's really going to miss Marilyn and I. Which made me realise how much I'm going to miss my fellow students and host family. I never really factored in the fact that I wouldn't just be meeting people but actually making friends whilst I studied here. But a week is a long time! Jared has the DVD "Robin Hood, Man in Tights", which he's insisting on showing me before I leave. Brad and Jared have taken great delight in mocking me for my Englishness (something I never really thought about before), and apparently this movie is similar! I can't believe I'm the only Brit here. Getting ready for a game of beer pong later! Yay!