"My church is on top of the mountains, and nature is my religion."
Bucket list check off time: 3+ day mountain bike trip! After finishing up my second week of Spanish school in Quito, I left my first host family (who was amazing) at 6h30 Friday morning for an amazing bike trip. Along with an Irish couple and our guide, we started our trip by biking down Cotopaxi (the second time for me). This time, instead of heading home, we rode another 15km after eating lunch by a stream (in the middle of the mountains with no one in sight, it was awesome). That's when the downhill spiral of my evening began. Right after lunch, we biked uphill (at 4000m), and then jumped in the car for a very twisty road trip up and down the mountains. Let's just say that didn't go over too well, and I threw up. By the time we arrived in Quilotoa, a small indigenous community high in the mountains, I was feeling worst and worst. Throughout the evening, altitude sickness hit me and I progressively got worst and worst. I had the text book signs: very dizzy, horrible headache, and throwing up all the time (basically it felt like being super drunk and super hungover at the same time, not fun). At night, I started to get a bit better, I had stopped throwing up at least, but I couldn't sleep at all so it was a very long and restless night. The next morning, everyone else hiked down the crater to see the lake at the bottom, but I was too weak and stayed in bed instead. After that, we started out descent for that day, and the biking seemed to cure me. It was one of the prettiest rides possible, through the mountains with small indigenous huts scattered along the way, and traditionally dressed people hard at work on their land. As we were on a paved road for this part, we were going down at 80km an hour, faster than the few cars we saw. That night we stayed in a small hostel (for trekkers) near the base of Chimborazo, Ecuador's tallest mountain. In the morning, we drove to the first refuge and hike up to the second at 5,000m, the highest one in the world! Then we got on our bikes and biked down a very fun dirt path. After a lunch break, we started a 40km descent on the most beautiful mountain road possible. Once again, we biked past indigenous communities scattered along the mountain as we biked down through a never ending valley. It was probably the most scenic bike ride I will ever do. Unfortunately, I have almost no pictures from this trip as I was either too busy biking or throwing up. As I'm in a cafe right one I can't load the few pictures I did take, do you will just have to wait a bit for those.
Originally I was planning on leaving Quito today in order to do some hikes (more like climbs as they are all over 4.500m) from a few other towns, but I became friends with my guide from the bike trip and he is going to take me on a few hikes around this area so I will stick around a few more days. I am currently staying in a great youth hostel, where everyone just hangs out in the "common" room all the time, and as it's only 5.50 a night (includes a free breakfast too), it attracts young backpackers doing the same kind of trip as me, so its perfect. In the next week, I hope to climb Rucu Pichincha (4,698m/15,400ft), Quito's very own active volcano, as well as Cotacachi (4,944m/16,200ft) and Imbabura (4,630m/15,190 ft), both of which I will do as two day trips with a guide from a small village called Otavalo. I also plan on doing a 50km mountain bike descent from the Andes to the rainforest, and for a day of rest in between all this, I will be visiting Otavalo's market, because not only is it known to be the best in South America, but the beginning of September is also their huge celebration, meaning it will be even more impressive and festive than normal. If my acclimatization goes as planned on those three peaks over 15,000ft, I will attempt to climb Cotopaxi (at just under 20,000ft), my first ice climb yet! Though attempt might be the key word after hearing other climbers stories...
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