Higher than I've ever been before

Somehow I have managed to be in Ecuador for a whole week already, when I'd only planned to go through it on my way to Colombia, and yet I think I will end up here for another week after this one. There is rather a lot to do here, y'see.

On flying into Quito, I'd intended to spend 2 nights there then leave, but a combination of altitude sickness and liking it meant that I stayed 4 nights. In the way that these things often work out, I did a pub quiz on my 4th unintended night there. My team and I embarrassed the competition and won hands down, aided by my faultless ability to Name that Tune, and the fact that one of my team mates was an MIT post doc. The rather generous prize was a bottle of Ecuadorian rum and a free night at a retreat up in the mountains near Cotopaxi. My 3 other team mates couldn't make it, so I claimed it as mine, and swiftly packed for a weekend in the mountains.

Cotopaxi is the highest volcano in Ecuador, and is the nearest point on Earth to the sun. That was one of our quiz questions, incidentally... Anyway, it's technically only 2 hours from Quito but in every other way it's a million miles away: the hostal had almost no electricity and no internet, and was a 1h30 drive along dirt road from the nearest town. It's run sustainably, so grew all it's own vegetables, and had eco toilets and solar panels powering the generator. The view from my room took in Cotopaxi in the distance, with nothing but sheep and cows between me and it. We had 3 meals a day prepared for us, and the rest of the time could sit in front of the fire drinking tea and reading.

I hadn't intended to do any of the crazy adrenal fuelled activities that people go to Cotopaxi for, but for reasons I can't quite explain I ended up signing up for the mountain biking down a volcano and the 5,000 metre hike up Cotopaxi - one each morning. Frankly, I am indescribably happy that I did. I was a long way out of my comfort zone on both: neither the brakes nor the gears really worked on my bike so I was careering down the side of a volcano unable to stop, and the altitude on the hike up Cotopaxi made me feel like I'd ran a marathon, but the pain was definitely worth it. I think my time spent there has fundamentally changed me: it had been so long since I'd taken any exercise that I'd forgotten how good the post sport feeling is, and I'm now intent on doing lots more. Anyone fancy climbing Kilimanjaro when I get back? It's only 5,895 metres, so I've done most of it...

I'm really enjoying travelling on my own at the moment - I've met lots of lovely people, but I'm way past the need to meet people just for the sake of it. I'm happy speaking Spanish and making my own way around, meeting people in the evenings and having a beer and a chat then leaving them and going off on my own the next day.