Best day EVER!!!

Okay, I'm missing my last two weekends but I will come back to them.  I have to tell you about today!  So, it started around 6:20am when I got up and threw on running tights, leggings, sweatpants, t-shirt, and a long sleeve shirt with two jackets, gloves and scarf in a bag!  I was beginning my journey to Cotopaxi (one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world)! The beginning of the trip wasn't all that interesting.  We met the others on our tour (I went with Michelle and Mridula from school) and headed for breakfast.  After that we bought chocolate (to help with the altitude...wonderful excuse!) then we drove to the parking lot of the mountain.  Honest.y at this point I wasn't feeling too great.  Those of you who know me know that carsickness is an often occurrence for me and here were winding up a mountain. I wasn't feeling up to a hike at that point but I couldn't turn back so onward I went.  Our hike started at 4200 meters above sea level (13,776 ft).  At this point there is already bits of snow and the wind was FIERCE! Most of our track was in loose gravel bits with snow here and there.  Our first hike was only 300 meters (984ft) but it took us a good hour and a half maybe? That ought to tell you something! I had to go a bit slow bc I was already feeling sick and the altitude was taking effect. I felt quite dizzy for those first 300 meters so I stopped frequently to take deep breath sand press on.  The majority of the time you couldn't see much other than a bit around you but then all of a sudden you'd catch a spot where the clouds moved and my word the view was incredible!  Breathtaking (literally ;) ! And then about 30 seconds later it was covered in cloud again! My face was being pinged with snow but my legs were working so hard they were hot.  The sensation was crazy. We lost a few of our group on the way up to the Refugio (no worries, no one died they just became sick or had seen enough and went back to wait in the van).  I felt incredible once we reached this point bc I really wasn't sure if I could make it.  Here we had a chance to warm up a bit with some hot chocolate and snacks.  Then after a bit a few of us decided we wanted more...

So there was 6 of us that decided to go the next 500 meters to reach the glacier of the volcano. By this time I was feeling MUCH better physically.  The trick at this point was watching your steps.  I only had my normal tennis shoes...not the snow boots I needed!  So there were definitely a few times that had our guide not taken my hand...I'm not sure I'd be writing you right now.  But all went well.  Our goal (of the group) was to make it to the 5000 meter mark which would have been a record for all of us and WE DID IT!!!  The last 15 meters were by far the hardest/scariest for me bc my shoes were not gripping to the ice/snow but again thanks to Pedro, our guide, I made it!  You can't imagine the view.  It was beautiful beyond words.  Of course I have tons of pictures but even then, they don't do it justice!  I'm telling you at this point I could barely talk solely bc I was so taken aback by it all. 1- I had just hiked up a snowy mountain without the right gear and reached an altitude of 5000 meters (16,400ft).  2-the view was unbelievable and 3- I was just so stinking proud of myself!  I felt like I could conquer the world...or at least another volcano!  And this wasn't even the highlight.  The best part about it all was going down...there was no easy way to get down...it was all ice and snow on a steep hill so what was the best way to go back? By sledding on our butts of course!  SOOOOO AMAZING!  We only went about 30 meters or so maybe but that was one of the funniest 20 seconds of my life.  We all ended up in a big dog pile at the end and we could literally do nothing but LAUGH!  It was such a moment filled with JOY and ACCOMPLISHMENT! The unfortunate side to that was the other folk were prepared with their waterproof hiking pants and I was not!  Needless to say, I went the rest of the day with a real wet backside! But totally worth it. So, from here we hiked back down to the parking area (going down was so much faster but quite a bit scarier bc you had no grip whatsoever).  Once we arrived to the van we geared up with helmets and jumped on bikes to continue our journey down the mountain.  This was actually quite scary to me.  We were riding down the winding roads that made me sick on the way up. The road is wet gravel basically and it's all steep downhill.  I LITERALLY was squeezing the break as hard as my hand would allow and I was still going almost faster than I felt comfortable going.  Praise God I didn't have any accident bc it wouldn't have ended well.  There were a few times I started to lose control but I was able to remain calm and gain back control.  Definitely an experience.  I originally didn't want to do the bikes but my friend did so I gave in.  Glad I did! 

And the day isn't over.  The last delight was on our way to eat. We loaded the bikes and continued the rest of the way in van.  Along the way we saw a rainbow.  Now most of you may be like 'whoopty doo, everyone has seen a rainbow' but NO!  Not like this one.  First of all the colors were brilliantly colorful and the best thing was the rainbow was on the ground right in front of us!  We saw the end on both sides...right there!!!!  It was the PERFECT ending to the PERFECT day!  I can't wait to upload the pictures but until then, here are some pictures of my pictures...

At 5000 meters!

At the bottom of the glacier...

Dog pile after sliding down the glacier!  

How I kept warm, part of our hike, and approaching the glacier!  

Honestly this week has been amazing and this was the the best way to end the week! 

Other highlights from the week...Wed i went to a language exchange and met new people and practiced my spanish- after that we celebrated Ladies Night by went dancing with some folk from school.  Thursday I went to a soccer match with my professor and then hit up salsa dancing that night.  Friday I had coffee with a local to practice my Spanish and was practically proposed too...part of the culture I haven't quite gotten used to yet.  After that we had another incredible night of dancing with a different group from school.  Saturday was nice and chill- got some souvenir shopping done and was able to rest up for today's adventure!  

I've got one week left and I plan on enjoying every second of it!  Believe I was born to travel! Lovin this!