Cotopaxi: Volcanoe Attempt Round 2

 Here is a shot after leaving the park.  Next to the beautiful sign from 1968 announcing the entrance to "National Park Cotopaxi".  Cotopaxi is not the tallest mountain in Ecuador but it is right up there.  Cheembarazza was the tallest but I was not able to even see it with the visibility.  This is the most famous volcanoe in Ecuador because of its proximity to Quito, the 3 million person city.

Before all this, I showed up to Cotopaxi from Banos.  I stayed at a hostel called the Secret Garden Cotopaxi for two nights.  There is also a Secret Garden in Quito as well.  The one in Quito is OK, but the one in Cotopaxi is outstanding.  Cotopaxi is a two hour trip from Quito.  75 cents on bus to the small town of Machachi and another 15 dollars to drive you to the Secret Garden Cotopaxi.  Once you are there it is one of the most beautiful hostels I have ever been to.  35 bucks a night for a room or if you have your own tent it is 20 dollars.  That might seem like a lot but that includes free breakfast, lunch, dinner, unlimited cake and a jacuzzi.  Not to mention you are in a national park close to endless mountain hikes, adventures and bicycling opportunities.  All the other haciendas in the area are around $100 dollars a night and do not include free food.

I showed up here with my friend John from Alaska.  Both of us wanted to summit the volcanoe.  We had one friend from New Jersey pay $350 to summit.  We were not willing to pay that.  We eventually bargained one guide down to $140 bucks a person, with jacket rentals, boots, crampons, ice axe and rope once we were at another hacienda called Tambopaxi. Unfortunately it was still too rich for our blood and we had to pass.  We moved to Tambopaxi which is really close to the volcanoe and camped there for seven dollars a night.

 Initially it was a failure because the weather is so bad you can never see the peark of the volcanoe.  Three days in Cotopaxi and I still hadn't the opportunity to lay my eyes on this beautiful beast.  The elevation here was 3,750 meters and the top of the volcanoe was nearly 6000.

 These plants found in Cotopaxi are the sister to "Indian Paintbrush" found in the Canadian Rockies.

Finally on the last day before leaving, I woke up in my tent to this view.  It got cold at night, about 5 degrees and a huge rainstorm.  But it was worth it to lay my eyes on this volcanoe.

Cali, Colombia... The last stop in Colombia

 This was my last night in Medellin.  Was there for two weeks.  I had a blast.  I wish I could live there someday.  The people are nice, but not too nice.  Just the right level of nice.  These guys were really nice though.  Celebrating my last night with me in Medellin.  Loro on the left from Spain and the middle guy from Mexico City.  Practiced a lot of Spanish with them.

 On the bus on the way to Cali from Medellin, in the beautiful coffee region and jungle.  I know a lot of people that spent time in Armenia, Manizalez and Salento.  Unfortunately I had to miss these towns after spending two weeks in Medellin.  Definitely worth a visit though if you have the time.

On the way to Cali, Colombia.  Ranked the sixth most dangerous city in the world because of murder rate.    Everyone in the other cities of Colombia, Bogota and Medellin warned me about Cali.  Many said, "Dont go to Cali."  What Cali is most famous for, besides being dangerous is Salsa Music.  Unfortunately I do not like Salsa I have discovered after a month here and five lessons.  So I had to explore other areas of the city.

 Here on Saturday we have city street teams out cleaning the graffiti on a street, so that more artists can come and do different graffiti. Lots of good street art here.  On the right the police officer is using the spray paint can.  The police in Cali seemed nice but some of the locals warned me that they are very unfair and mean.

 Here is the Parque Estudiantes in San Antonio.   Colombia is so much about park culture.  It was my favorite thing about Colombia.  The nightlife really sucked actually but the park life was out of this world.  On a friday or saturday night you can spend the night barhopping and listening to shitty salsa music paying too much for drinks.  Or you can buy a box of aguardiente or rum, get a few plastic shot glasses and go to the park with your friends to drink and meet others.  It is definitely the most Colombian thing you can do.

 Here in the park for students they have street art demonstrations.

 Beauitful statue, people making street art and wonderful reggae music and hip hop. 

 Cali is definitely most known for salsa music.  There were so many people at my hostel here to learn to dance salsa and go out to salsa clubs.  If that is your thing Cali is a must see.  If that is not your thing Cali is still a must see.  This park party had reggae, hip hop and ska punk.  The emcee kept reiterating that Cali is not just about Salsa but other musics too.  It is a stereotype that the culture pushers of the city are really trying to challenge.  When the ska punk went on there was a huge mosh pit and someone got knocked out and had to be taken away on a stretcher.  Very exciting!!!

Cali is a safe city.  I promised myself that I would not walk around alone at night on the streets and I broke that rule within the first five minutes.  Best thing I ever did.  Discovered a delicious Argentinian Asado restaurant where I had delicious vegetarian pizza.

Made some friends from Australia.  Canadians definitely have their beef with Australians a little bit.  Especially people in Banff that have seen their town over run by Australians.  But I have found some amazing Australian friends down here.  Left is Scotty and right is Jock.  Me and Jock travelled together down to Quito together.  Australia sounds like it has lots of hippy beach towns, you can make good money cause the minimum wage is eighteen dollars an hour.  The only downside is things are very expensive.  I definitely want to go to Australia to work some day.