15,748 feet above sea level....

From the first day I got here, and looked out my window and saw the snow capped mountain of Cotopaxi I have wanted to go and see it up close. Cotopaxi to me represents and symbolizes Quito to me. It is remarkably beautiful! Because I don´t have much time left in Ecuador i´ve been trying to figure out a way to get there…(with the help of my mom!) on Saturday morning, my dream came true and Kimberly and I set off to Cotopaxi.
Cotopaxi national park is located just a few miles east of a little town in Ecuador called Lasso. In side the park it was a lot like Yellowstone with natural lakes of hot thermal water due to the three active volcanoes located inside the park. For example at the Base of Rumiñahi sits a small yet very hot pool called Lake Limpio Pungo. My first picture here is of Kimberly and I by this lake with volcano Rumiñahi in the background.
When we first entered the park Cotopaxi was completely covered with clouds, and we couldn´t see it, so we spent some time looking at the other amazing sights to see. There really isn´t much vegetation in the park its self, the soil isn´t very healthy due to all the volcano activity, but there are lot of big huge mountains that make the Idaho Mountains look like babies. As the clouds started to clear though Cotopaxi came into view and it was the most incredible sight I have EVER SEEN!
We drove up to it, and then you can hike up to the snow base. This is the only place most Ecuadorians will ever see snow. And so we started hiking. Now just standing still up at that altitude takes a ton of energy and air. And so to hike up to the lodge and the snow is a HUGE project. We would walk about ten steps and then have to take a breather and recoup for about five minutes. It took us about two hours to climb to the snow base, and then on our way down it took about fifteen minutes because it´s straight down hill…haha
Where we hiked to sits at 4800 meters sobre nivel de mar. (above sea level) that´s 15,748 feet above sea level! Up on the top of the world it was the most incredible sight. Not like looking down on a city, but looking down over incredible greenery, and empty farm land. Clear in the distance we could see Quito, but it was really just a tiny speck, more like an idea that it “might” be there…

I am really glad I got to go up to Cotopaxi, the world largest active volcano, before I went home. It will be so cool just to say…” I did that!” and I doubt i´ll ever see anything so majestic in my life!