Day 4: Machachi To Cotopaxi National Park (9 Miles)

We went back to the market early in the morning to grab some fruit, queso fresco, and hot cocoa mix to make our instant coffee more palatable.  Ani was poking around one of the market stands and the vendor gave her a handful of sticky toffees for free.  We were bummed that none of the food stands at the market were open yet, but after asking around, we were told that "the" breakfast place was on another edge of the market.  And indeed, it was "the" breakfast place.  The owner ushered us in and explained what there was that day.  Ed and I ordered some juice, hot chocolate, caldo de pollo (a chicken soup with clear broth and yuca and some cilantro-type fresh herb), and fresh bread with queso fresco sandwiched in it.  Ani just ordered the queso fresco sandwich, but after seeing our soup, immediately ordered that, too.  The owner gave me a knowing look and said "my food is the freshest!"  With our bellies full, we rolled out of Machachi to sunnier skies and a bit of trepidation about the route to come.

The road out of Machachi started off pretty good...

We plummeted down into a small valley leaving Machachi on a gloriously paved road.  And then the pavement ended and turned back into cobblestone as the road started its ascent to the base of Volcan Cotopaxi.  After a while, it was clear that the grade of the road and cobblestones would be unrelenting.  With clouds looming, Ani verbalized out loud what we were all thinking.  "So hey guys, I wouldn't be opposed to getting a truck to help us up this thing, I don't want to push my bike all day and I'd rather hop a truck if we can't ride."  If we had unlimited time, maybe I would have stuck it out, but I agreed with her.  My personal rule with group bike touring is to do whatever whatever the person who is feeling mentally and physically the worst wants to do.

And magically, this lovely truck driver appeared.  For $25, he would lug the three of us and all of our bikes to the park entrance.  Ed decided to sit up front and chat with the driver about live, the universe, and everything and practice his Spanish.  Ani and I sat in the truck bed to enjoy the fresh air and have better views.

Truck bed selfies.

As we jostled up and up and up... I was happy to not be pushing my bike up the road.  We probably wouldn't have made it to the park even that day and we didn't want to get too off the schedule.  Although we had built some flex days in, we didn't want to burn through them so early.

We finally made it to the park entrance just around lunchtime.  Although we had read other accounts that there were no park fees, the park official at this entrance was in a heated argument with some other tourists about how foreigners were required to have a certified guide in the park, and a guide cost $40.  After some contentious negotiation, we grouped all the foreigners together with one guide.  We ended up paying $20 and it was decided that the guide Mariela would lead us in a truck and we would follow on our bikes.  The others jetted out once they were past the control point and just left, much to the park official's chagrin.  Mariela was incredibly sweet and full of interesting information and we were happy to have her company.

Whew, made it.

FINALLY, my kind of dirt road with sweeping stark views.  It was still a lot of "up" and since we were now at over 12,000 feet, we were still struggling a bit.  So we figured we would take advantage of having a guide in a truck, and so we had Mariela take our panniers.

This lava rock is famous because it is from the last eruption of Cotopaxi in 2015.

Mariela is so cool she has a dog named "Valley of the Condors" in Quechua.  She also explained to us that Cotopaxi means "Neck of the Moon."

Although there are several camping areas in the park, Mariela told us the one by the laguna was quieter and more peaceful.  And indeed, it was.  There was just one other group camping there, some wild horses, and lots of birds.

After depositing us at the camping area, Mariela went on her merry way and we were left to set up camp and explore.  Our first order of business was to set up camp and cobble together wraps with tuna, queso fresco, avocado, and spinach as we had forgotten to eat lunch in the stress of entering the park.  Ani decided to try to take a nap and Ed and I explored the laguna.  As the sun set, we cooked dinner and learned that the type of lentils available in Ecuador take forever to cook.

Camp!

That tiny speck is my tent and if it were a clear day, you would see Cotopaxi peeking out behind.

Ed and I came across some nice gals from Chile who let us take a glamour shot with their jeep.

Eruption evacuation route signs are up in this joint.

The laguna was beautiful and had a neat trail that circumnavigated the whole thing.  We decided to walk around it and see what there was to see.  We saw cows, birds (aplomado falcon, Andean lapwing, ducks), and lots of bunnies!

And then surprise!  Cotopaxi decided to come out from under the clouds for a few minutes before they enveloped her in a mystical shroud again.  We also found a beautifully clean water source away from the horses and cattle grazing here, so we filtered some water.

The flora is tiny, but colorful, and beautiful.

View from the tent.  Hello wild horses!

View from the other side of the tent.  Hello Ed!

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• If we had more time, I may have pushed to actually cycling the section into the northern entrance and attempt to go around the east side of the volcano rather than sticking to the dirt road that goes through the park out the southern entrance.  Ed only had two weeks for this tour and Ani and I had three weeks so we had to make some hard route choices.

• The control points are only open certain hours and there is nothing otherwise barring folks from entering the park.  Other accounts of cycle tourists entering the park after the control points are closed with no problems and no charges.  My feeling is that if we had arrived after 4 pm, we would not have had to pay nor had any problems otherwise.

• There are many options for accommodations within the park ranging from primitive camping to lodges with hot showers and wifi.  The camping area by the laguna requires folks to either boil water or have a filter and there are no bathroom facilities.  The camping area by the southern entrance has everything from bathrooms to a little store and restaurant.  There is also an area close to the volcano where a lot of climbers stay (El Refugio).