Cotopaxi

Pühapäeval maailma kõrgeima aktiivse vulkaani otsast jalgrattaga alla sõites sai mu viimane külastamist vaja vaatamisväärsus Ecuadoris lõpuks linnukese taha! Olin ma ju planeerinud Cotopaxi ära näha esimestest nädalatest saadik. Ehkki pärast seda, kui kaks meie vabatahtlikku haiglas lõpetasid(üks murdis jalaluu, teisel rebenees alahuul-vajas kividest puhastamist ja õmblemist), see soov mõneks ajaks taandus.

Kuna ma aga täisvarustusega 7 tundi mööda jäist maapinda Cotopaxi tippu ronida ei soovinud(siiski 5897m...tulles riigist, kus kõrgeim ´mägi´ on 318m, võtab kiiremal sammul Quito künklikel tänavatelgi kõndimine mõnikord hingeldama... :) ), tuli siiski jalgrataste kasuks otsustada.

Kõigepealt mõnikümmend minutit ootamist, nagu gruppidega ikka, ning seejärel 1.5 tundi bussisõitu Quitost lõuna poole. Tubli nagu ma olen, olin seljakoti ilusti riideid (salle, villaseid sokke, kindaid) ja muud vajalikku täis pakkinud. Teised küll imestasid, et olin villased sokid juba varakult jalga pannud, kuna juba hommikul kell 7 paistis päike ja tõotas tulla soe päev, ent Cotopaxi sissepääsuni jõudes tuiskasid järjest kindaid ja mütse ostma. Külm oli! Ja meie matk algas veel umbes pool kilomeetrit kõrgemalt... Bussist välja astudes pidime tugeva tuule tõttu lendu tõusma ja sõrmede soojas hoidmine oli paras katsumus. Nimelt anti meile veel ühed kindad, kummikattega, kuna esimesed 8 km laskusime järsust mäest alla, pinnaseks äravajunud, killustiku ja tuha seguga kaetud tee. Alla jõudes olid kõigil näpud pidurdamisest krampis, eriti minul, kes ma teiste vabatahtlike kombel haiglas lõpetada ei tahtnud.

Edasi läks veidi kergemalt, 5km pärast jõudsime järveni ja sealt veel mõne km pärast lõunasöögipaika. Õhk tundus selleks ajaks juba oluliselt soojem, metsikud hobused sõid eemal head paremat ning ka meie olime lõunasöögiks valmis. Pasta salat, quiche ja šokolaadi brownied, joogiks ingveri tee - risti vastupidine kohalikele hõrgutistele, ent imehea!

Kõht täis ja pool teed veel ees. Õnneks möödus enamik teest allamäge, paaril tõusul hüppasid kõik ratta seljast maha ja kõndisid rattad käekõrval järgmise laskumiseni. Sellise kõrguse juures ja pärast nii rikkalikku lõunasööki lihtsalt ei saagi muudmoodi mäest üles :). Kokku läbisime 31km, pärast esimest 8t(laskumine) oli selline tunne nagu sõidaks mööda raudtee rööpaid-ülekere massaaz! Ent kokkuvõttes oli väga tore! J

Nüüd võib rahus kümne päeva pärast Eestisse sõita, pärast Ecuadori vabatahtlikele ettevalmistava koolituse läbiviimist sel nädalavahetusel on kõik mis ma saavutada ja näha tahtsin korda läinud!

L.

Biking Dutchman

Cotopaxi

Just nii kõrgelt alustasime matkaga/That's where we started the tour

4500m

Võitlus tuulega/Trying to hide from the wind

Allamäge/On our way down

Varurattad/Extra bikes

Metsikud hobused/Wild horses

Ka nii kõrgel õitsevad lilled :)/The flowers bloom even at those hights :)

:)

 I finally made it to Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the World, last Sunday. This means that I have managed to see all the sights I wanted to see within my six months in Ecuador! I had planned to go to Cotopaxi since my first weeks here, although I slightly lost my interest when two of our volunteers ended up in hospital after cycling down these magnificent landscapes.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t that into spending 7 hours climbing the mountain on icy roads with full equipment. It’s 5897m after all... It’s sometimes even difficult to walk up and down the streets of Quito...well, the highest ´mountain´ in Estonia is 318m, which should explain it quite well J. Thus I decided to join the bike tour.

At first we had to wait for half an hour or so, as always with big groups, and then drove to the South of Quito for 1.5 hours. Luckily I was smart to take lots of layers with me(also a scarf, hat, and gloves). I was already wearing my woolen socks, which was a surprise to the others as it was a very sunny morning. They understood me as soon as we got to the entrance of Cotopaxi and then hurried to buy gloves and hats themselves. It was absolutely freezing! And we hadn’t even reached the highest point where we were going to start the descent yet, it was about 500 meters higher...

The wind almost blew us off the volcano when we stepped off the bus and it was rather difficult to keep the fingers warm, although we were provided with extra gloves. It was extremely important to ceep the fingers warm since the first 8km were the steepest and we spent the whole time breaking, except for our guide who flew past us J The road was rather slippery, mostly covered with ashes. None of us could feel our fingers by the time we got down, especially me, who I spent the whole time breaking, not to end up at the hospital like my fellow volunteers had a few months before.

It was a lot easier from then onwards. We made a break by the lake after 5 km and had lunch a few km further down. The air felt rather warm by then, wild horses were eating at the background and we were ready for lunch! Pasta salad, quiche and shocolate brownies with ginger tea, nothing like the typical Ecuadorian food, but delicious!

We were at about half way, luckily the rest was mostly downhill. There were a few uphills, but we all jumped off the bikes and walked until the next descent. At this hight and after such a filling lunch there was no other way to get up these hills J. All together we cycled for 31 km, first 8 of these were steeply downhill and the rest felt like cycling on a train track-massage for the whole body! Nevetheless it was a great day! :)

I can happily return to Estonia in ten days. After organizing a pre-departure camp for Ecuadorian volunteers for this weekend I will have achieved and seen everything I wanted to.

L.