From Bolivia to Quito (yes I did skip Peru)

It has been a while that I updated my blog. Main reason is slow internet in Bolivia and busy with too many nice things.. which makes it even more difficult to update my blog since I don´t know where to begin....so let´s do it chronologically :-)

While I was doing my previous update I was planning a trip to the rainforest in Bolivia. I met some people that wanted to do the same and we decided to do 3 days in the so called pampas (wetlands) and 3 days in the real jungle in Madidi National Park. Unfortunately I´m not able to upload  many pics from this trip since my memory card is so full that all compus crash when I try to copy/paste . But in case you are interested, the following linke should give an idea how it was: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=10150621908205557&set=a.10150621897335557.687340.673175556&type=1&theater

The trip to this place in Bolivia was fantastic. We were with a nice group of people, saw many nice places, spotted (and catched)many interesting animals..exactly what you would expect from the jungle. Highlights were; swimming with river dolphins (they even touched us and one put his nose under my arm and stayed there for minutes). piranha fishing, sounds and sights of monkeys, tarantulas, a group of 100 pecaries..and much more. Oh and I almost forget to mention the mosquitos....35 bites just on my back.... 

Coming back in la Paz I bought directly a ticket to Quito. Despite many nice stories about Peru I simply want to have sufficient time in Equador and Colombia so needed to skip Peru

First objective in Quito was to make a plan for the Galapagos. Finally I booked a 8 dayboat trip that will take me (tomorrow) to the best (and less visited) places. From the moment of booking till tomorrow I had a week to discover some other parts of Ecuador. First I spend a day in Quito. Beautiful old colonial city but  strangely enough this is not the main commercial and tourist area. So if you want to actually do something you need to go somewhere else and that makes this city less attractive to stay for a long time. Therefore i travelled quickly to the coast. Just as a reminder for myself. I have never experienced such a bad night bus. Not because of the state of the bus itself but the way of driving. Coming down from Quito (2000 mtr) to sea level, gave the driver many opportunities to drive with high speed through a dozen of hairpin curves....and this does not stimulate sleeping at all. Despite a lack of sleep I still wanted to directly do what i came for .... practice my surfing so that I can impress Ela when we are travelling together. And yes I did make some progress. The waves were much better (for beginners) than what I experienced in Chile and I actually can catch some waves ...even with a smaller board.  

Being exhaiusted from 2 days surfing. I travelled back to Quito to someting more relaxing......climbing an active volcano of 5900 mtrs altitude (Cotopaxi)

 I booked a trip where we first did a trekking of 6 hours to a summit of 4700 mtrs. This was supposed to be an easy start to get ready for the big one..but with lots of rain, snow, hale and thunder this was much more than a warming up. And why do I only realize that I´m afraid of heights when I´m standing on a mountain.??? Anyway this was stll a very good way of getting used (again) to the altitude, which was a question mark for me because of the surfing. And finally I saw my first condor......

The next days was Cotopaxi day. According to the lonley planet only 50% of fit and acclimatized hikers make it to the summit....and now I understand why. I have never done someting so exhausting inmy life (yes Sophie this was worse than Ol donyo lengai). First we drove to a parking place on the mountain at 4500 mtrs. From there it was an easy (what is easy at this altitude??) walk up to the refuge at 4800 mtrs. Arriving here we were teached how were going to walk to the summit. This was needed since it is walking and climbing on a glacier. In other words we needed to pratice walking with ropes, clamp ons (no clue how you write that but it is sa thing on your boot to have grip in the snow/ice), ice pick etc. After that it was waiting..(trying to sleep in -5degrees in the room) for the start of the summit attempt at 01.00 at night. Last night we were in total with 9 tourists on the mountain..of which only 3 made it (in 6 hours) Including me!! But what a hell. Every step you take requires so much energy. And that in very very cold conditions and very strong wind....I thought i was going to die...serious. But most of you know me..when I want something I do it....this time not realizing that I also had to get down....and there in the daylight my fear of heights was present again.  Fortunately I was attached with a rope, and we could slide down the last meters.... But wow what an experience was this...a day that i will never forget!

Now back in Quito and looking fwd to my Galapagos experience...might bcome sick on the boat but it will never be as frightning as Cotopaxi.......