Friday, February 15, 2013

Rain in Cotopaxi

Chalise and I headed south to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi to stay at Secret Garden Hostal. Set in the foothills of Cotopaxi itself, Secret Garden is a nice, quiet place to spend a few days in and do nothing...which is exactly what we did. We reserved a "Honeymoon Suite"/ Cabana which had a small living room with a wood stove, dresser, small couch, and private shower & bathroom. The bedroom was located in a loft above, with a window looking directly out towards the mountainside. Although not equipped with electricity (nor could we dispose of toilet paper in the toilet, a common practice in much of Latin America), it was nice. Nothing wrong with "roughing it" for a few days.

The hostal provided trips/hikes to the summit of Cotopaxi, horseback riding, and nature hikes to nearby waterfalls. Unfortunately for us, it rained most of our stay, and spending five plus hours in a downpour without proper rain gear is not how we wanted to spend a majority of our time. Luckily for us, Cotopaxi is only an hour and a half away, and I have no doubt we will return when the weather is better. Instead Chalise and I spent our time going on walks of our own, reading in hammocks, drinking lots of tea, and enjoying some peace and quiet in the Andes.

Cotopaxi
Looking out from our bedroom window.
One of two gardens.



Chalise making a new friend.




What's a farm in the Andes without a couple of llamas?














Mi amor




Front porch view looking east.

Front Porch view of Cotopaxi. This was the only picture I captured our whole trip. Twenty minutes later, Cotopaxi was completely clouded over yet again.

Front porch view looking west.

One of the three hostal dogs. He decided to follow us on our hour-long walk.

Chalise & Mash




 

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