Mountain biking and a bit of climbing

I'm even more in love than when I arrived, this place is truly amazing. On Saturday, I went mountain biking at night. There were fifty or so of us who participated in this event, which started out by biking down (for what seemed like hours) into the valley. The rest was all on a small dirt path, often with a mountain on one side, and a huge drop off on the other (let's just say I wish I had brought a better headlamp as there were no lights whatsoever). Though I was exhausted by the end, I am happy to announce that I finished in three hours with the first group (some took an hour more). I got home at one that night, only to wake up five hours later to mountain bike down Cotopaxi, Ecuador's second highest peak, and the highest active volcano in the world! Cotopaxi, which is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is special because it has one of the few equatorial glaciers in the world, and it is an almost perfectly symmetrical cone (which is rare for volcanos). Before coming on this trip, I had decided I wanted to try and climb it. How cool would it be to have climbed, with crampons and ice axes, a mountain 20,000ft tall? Now, after seeing and climbing a bit of it, there is no doubt about it, I have to climb it. Sunday started out with a long car ride down a very bumpy dirt road to the mountain. From the parking lot (which is pretty high up the mountain, almost at the snow level), we hiked to the refuge at 4,800m. Though the hike looked like it would take about ten minutes, that was not at all the case. With the altitude, you are forced to slowly put one foot in front of the other, moving at a snails pace the whole time. During our hike up, we were walking through the clouds, and it even snowed a bit.  Luckily, by the time we made it back to our bikes, it had started to clear up and we were finally able to see the amazing mountain, a very cute fox, and many wild horses. It was all down hill from there! After a fun bike ride down, then some cross country, then down again, we arrived at the bottom for a well earned meal.

Once again, I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures, so I added them to this page:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109164353544358903729/Ecuador


In the short time I have been here, I have met some of the most astounding people, people who live life by traveling, exploring, climbing, biking... And doing the things they love. I have done nothing and been nowhere compared to many of them, and it has been such an amazing experience to meet them, hear their stories, and become friends. That is the best thing about traveling alone, not only can you decide what you want to do and when, but you make instant friends with the people you meet. I wouldn't want it any other way. Before leaving for this trip, I had made a loose plan... Where I would go and even a guess as to when. Now though, I see that is just stupid. The best way to do this kind of trip is to just go with the flow, travel with the people you meet, and take all the opportunities you can get. Who knows where I will be in a week, heck, even tomorrow!