Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador

ER in Quito - By Robin Fillner - SALUD Program Guest blogger traveling in Quito. The next morning, we went to Cotopaxi National Park and visited some Incan ruins. Santiago always wanted us to get out of the van to look at stuff but it was sooooo cold. Eventually, we made it to a parking lot from where we could hike to a refuge, a starting point for climbers and a nice hut to warm up in. When we got out of the van we were immediately pelted by hail and almost knocked over by the intense unforgiving wind. We were encouraged to go slow up the mountain due to the effects of altitude, but I felt that I would be knocked over if I went slowly. Fighting the weather, we tromped through the loose dirt on a subtle path through the bareness. The mountain offers no protection of trees or even large rocks, only the exposure of reddish-brown loose pebbles, which easily fell into my shoes with every step. We could only stare at the ground because the exfoliation of our skin with the hail was too intense. I was scared of walking off some cliff! After my jeans and outer jacket were completely soaked by the hail, and my shoes and socks were caked with mud, I made it to the refuge and was greeted by a nice fireplace and, my favorite, mint tea! We hung out for a while, discussing our thoughts on the mountain and the weather (and the warm tea and fireplace) and then headed back after about an hour. I decided to run down the mountain, just like in the Jack Keroac book. It was so fun and only took me about 10 minutes (whereas the climb took us between 30 minutes to an hour)! Although, I didn't want to go back, we returned to Quito that evening. I was exhausted but had to prepare for my early morning at the hospital. It was such a good weekend, one that I'll never forget!