Tuesday 13th January 2026: Up to Cotopaxi

A faint rainbow where a volcano should be!

We're sad to leave Quito as there is so much more we could have done.  However our whistlestop tour won't let us linger for long.

Today we are moving on to Cotopaxi which is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.  We're staying in a lodge in Chasqui which is reknowned for its views of the mountain.   Chasqui isn't really a town and our hotel is 500m off the Pan-Americana, so the thought of catching a bus and then having to walk with big suitcases to the lodge did not appeal.  So we messaged the hotel and they arranged a lift for us.

Cotopaxi is in an area called the Avenida de los volcanes, a name given by Alexander von Humboldt.  It runs for 200 km and has several active volcanoes en route.  Situated in Ecuadorian altiplano, Joan imagined a bare and desolate landscape, with barren snow capped volcanoes, like those in the north of Chile and Bolivia.  It was nothing like it.

Our driver collected from our lodgings at 11am without uttering a word and leap frogged through the streets, worryingly texting in slow traffic.  He seemed to take a very circuitous route to the Panamericana.

The Panamericana is a route which begins in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and runs down through north, central and southern America, but is broken by the Darien Gap, a dangerous area with armed militia, that has no road system.  The Darien Gap lies between Panama and Columbia and in Race Across the World, season three, the competitors had to take an expensive and rather choppy boat ride to bypass it.

On our holidays we've done quite a chunk of the Panamericana in South America including Ruta 9 in Chile.  So it was nice today to add a few more miles to our tally.

What was surprising was that the scenery was a lot more lush than we had expected.  Pampas grass bordered the road and in parts, one could imagine that you were in Alpine pastures.  There were cows grazing.  At one point, we felt we could have been in the Hope Valley, except with volcanoes.

Joan had expected the route to be remote, but there stores and even petrol stations all along the way.  There were polytunnels, fields of maize and other crops.

On the way up we passed the twin peaks of the Ilinizas volcanoes.  The pictures Joan had previously seen of them were snow peaked, but these were green and lush.

Eventually we reached Chasqui where we are staying.  The road to the Lodge was bumpy and muddy, and would have not been great for wheeling our new suitcases along.

At the lodge we were greeted by friendly dogs and taken to a small, simple room with ensuite.  Our room was on the ground floor.  On the first floor there is a communal area and kitchen which you can use to to cook your own food in the afternoon.  On the top floor was a open air patio with chairs and tables where you could great views of Cotopaxi.  However, as with many volcanoes, it was hidden by clouds and we could barely see the lower slopes.

The one thing that hit us straight away was how thin the air was.  We were both breathless walking from the car to reception.  Quito sits at 2850 m above sea level and Chasqui is 3140 m.  That extra 300 metres really made a difference.

We decided to spend the day resting and acclimatising.  Initially we did this on the roof but as it cooled and winds increased, we moved downstairs to the communal area.  We certainly felt out of place.  Everyone else seemed to be in their 20s.  Some prepared food in the kitchen, whilst others played games or swapped stories.

Kevin did some Sudoku whilst Joan changed some of our travel plans.  The effect of the altitude really shocked us.  As I said before, neither of us particularly responds well to altitude.  In two days time we were due to stay at a hostel in Quilotoa which stands at 3914 metres for two nights.  The idea of coping with altitude there - insomnia, headaches, dizziness - when we could just do a quick day trip up there from a nearby town made us reconsider our  plans.

We have stayed higher when we visited the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve in Bolivia which was between 4200 metres and 5400 metres, and Joan did not sleep for two nights due to the altitude.  But there was no other option if we wanted to visit there.  Here we had options so we cancelled our accommodation and booked instead an apartment in Latacunga.  We could do a tour from there.

Night fell and the cook came to make dinner.  They cater for veggies and vegans here and for 7 dollars fifty we had a three course meal of soup, potato and veg bake and fruit (with ice cream for Kevin.)

The evening was getting cool and the host lit a fire with logs.