On top of the World, literally

I realize it most when I am in the bus. The huge city passing by me, seeing hundreds of people in one ride and this is when I think to myself “I am in Quito, Ecuador.” It seems that I often forget where I am and how lucky I am to be here. Although I have been slacking on the blogs I have still been having great adventures. About three weeks ago I went to Cotopaxi on a class trip.

We met our classmates as the sun came up above Quito, my mind still not functioning, and my mind still deep in its dreams. We rode for two hours until we came into the reserve at the base of the volcano. I am used to the majestic mountains for Oregon, but this mountain still made me catch my breath. The base of the volcano was splattered with rocks from its last spew. Cotopaxi is presently active and threatens Quito, Riobamba and Latagunga daily. I joked with Jamie about how my heart soared at the sight of passing pine trees, only I wasn’t really joking…..the surroundings were bringing me back. Our three tour buses made it up the side of the volcano….I have no idea how and from the rocking and the screaming on the other side of the bus I would have to guess it was a miracle that we made it all the way up without dying.

The only thing I could muster was a gutteral "gut ten tag...yah?

As the class gathered I could feel my lungs tighten, walking ten feet made me dizzy and it was clear that this volcano was far more powerful than I. Our professor then yelled at us to run down the pumice filled side of the volcano. I looked at him expecting a joke, but next thing I knew there goes my oh so old professor running down Cotopaxi. I laughed as I slide down, not so graceful as usual. Coming down was fun, but my laughter soon stopped as I looked up the cliff and realized the only way back up was the way I went down. And so 30 minutes later I made it up, out of breath and with the worst headache of my life.

The glacier was up ahead and I knew that even if I needed an air tank I would do it. And so my slow painful approach began. The process went like this; 10 steps stop, pretend to look at the scenery and actually try to breath, 10 more steps. I felt like an 80-year-old granny with an asthma problem. Jamie and I made it to base camp and ordered the worst hot chocolate ever, it even put Swiss miss to shame…along with our hot treat we bought the world’s most expensive and stale Doritos. We ate as trekkers from around the world talked of conquering the volcano. Enthused by their stories, we set off for the glacier. We should have suspected something when Jamie and I were the only ones going up, and everyone else was coming down….fast. A German couple tried to explain something to us, but all I could muster was a guttural “gut ten tag…yah?” The ground was icy and our feet were slipping…we were getting dangerously close to the edge. The volcano made deep growling sounds, which were oh so very reassuring. Every time the volcano spoke we ran a little faster. Soon enough we were at the glacier…time for a photo shoot of course.

Next something hit my nose. I froze. Shit. Snow. Hail, both…this was bad. I soon enough wished I had taken German at some point or had Robin to help translate for those tourists. At first we were in awe of the snow, something I had not expected to see in Ecuador. We made snow angels, snow balls fights began, but then we had a thought…no one from the class is here…..we began to run, slipping and sliding back to base camp. We ran all the way down the slope. Our teacher had warned us that whoever was late to the bus would be left to find their own way home. We came to where the buses where…nothing but the snow, which had now picked up to a strong snowstorm. Thunder was now mixing with the roaring volcano. We ran a little farther and soon enough saw a tour bus taking off…we ran hitting on the door. Our professor was stern as we entered…red, out of breath, lungs burning. “You are 30 minutes late. Sit now.” So we sat in the driver’s seat, silent. The driver had to shift between my legs, which made for a lively three-hour ride to Baños where we were to spend the night. We fell asleep early, my lungs still burning a little….