Second day in Cotopaxi, second attempt at a hike. The weather looks very nice this morning. The night frost covers the whole landscape. The air is crisp and the lamas are already eating banana peels.
Breakfast is instant coffee and scrambled eggs with tomato sauce on top. We put on our rubber boots and off we go. The day’s excursion involves a three-hour horseback ride in the volcano park.
On the bus that takes us to the stables I try to make friends with two French girls, but with little result… they are not very friendly.
We get on the horses and I realise that it’s almost all women visitors today…how strange….
For me it’s the first time, I try to treat the animal as gently as possible, he on the other hand doesn’t listen to me at all 😆. He seems to know by heart where and what to do….
The landscapes are incredible, the horses wonderful. It’s like being in a Sergio Leone film. The climate is perfect, neither too hot nor too cold and it is sunny. The volcano towers imposingly in the valley. I begin to make friends with my horse, I understand how I have to treat him so that he understands me. Since we entered the park a ‘wild’ horse has been following our caravan. He is attracted by the guide’s mare and is therefore quite agitated 😅.
The morning passes pleasantly except at one point my horse starts trotting. And then galloping. Being my first time I wasn’t ready for this sudden change. My nether regions didn’t even 😵💫. ( scrambled eggs…).
Back to the hostel we find lunch, vegetable soup ( very good) in which to dip pop-corn (seriously!?). Sounds like a load of rubbish to me, so I just eat the soup, while the others all seem excited by the idea… 😵
The afternoon involves a return to the hostel and of course a well-deserved rest (it sounds absurd to say such a thing during a trip 😂).