Aloha!

About two weeks ago I entered Ecuador from Colombia and went straight to the capital: Quito. A huge city at an altitude of about 2,500m. I immediately made some friends and met Brad during breakfast. Then we decided to hike up Mt. Cotopaxi together.

As some of you might already know: WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!!! If you want to see the pictures I urge you to check out the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127538&id=634868429&l=2b45fbf60d

It was an amazing hike. We left on Thursday morning and immediately hiked up Mt. Illiniza Norte. At first it looked an easy hike, but after arriving on the final slope which consisted of mainly sand and small stones, we started to feel how hard it was going to get! Three steps up, one slide down,... The weather was in our favour during the hike, but once on top it al changed and the clouds came in and stole our view away. During the hike down it started to hail and poor down rain, but eventually we made it to the refuge. The rest of the day was all about resting and reading near the stove. I drugged myself with 1 gram of Ibuprofen to get rid of the worst headache of my life! I tought my head was about to explode! This was a consequence of hiking down too fast, but we had no choice, the guide was running down so we had to keep up! The next day we took a jeep to Mt. Cotopaxi and in the afternoon hiked up to the refuge. (4,800m) Again just rested the whole time and went sleeping around 6:30pm. I slept only two hours before waking up at midnight, getting dressed fast, drinking some tea (you have to hydrate a lot at these altitudes) and then it was time. The weather was in our favour and even the moon was big and brightly enlightening our path. Under a beautiful starry sky we started hiking up around 12:30am. After an hour we reached the glacier and had to put up our crampons, rope up and take out the ice axe. We left half an hour after the first group and had already caught up with them. I immediately felt that the summit was within reach! Breathing went well and my legs were giving the best of themselves! Around 4am we reached the hardest part: a slope of about 50% or more that we had to walk up straight! There we understood why we hiked up ther sandy slope the day before. Here to we slided back down each step we took. It took us an hour to get 100m higher! We also had to stop moving regularly because on top of the slope was an ice wall which crumbled down in very little ice cubes that came down at a bullet speed! I got struck a couple of times on my legs, and I can assure you, it was not nice! After that there was another hard part were we had to go round an ice wall and we had nothing to put our feet on, so our crampons were straight into the ice and had to support us. By then the air was getting thinner and every step there was less oxygen to breathe. After every four steps we had to rest for 10 seconds to catch up with our breathe! Once we got closer to the top, Brad was getting cold but I encouraged him to continue the last steps and I wanted to be on top before sunrise! We eventually made it at 5:55am on top and the sun peaked over the horizon at 6am! I can assure you, the view was breathtaking! I forgot about my frozen toes for a while and enjoyed the astonishing view. Check out the pictures if yo want to get an idea what it looked like.

We stayed up for a while before hiking back down. The next group was one hour behind us, which can give you an idea how fast we hiked up. We were really well acclimatised! Some groups were just crawling to the top with no energy left. While walking down the emotions caught me for a moment. This was really one of my greatest achievements ever!

My toes are 'fine' now. They move perfectly and look normal, but they just give me a funny sleepy feeling back. If a doctor is reading this, please some advice if this is ok? It's getting better since I was in some natural hot springs yesterday.

So after the hike we were brought back to Quito where I met some friends back from Medellin. They were planning on attending the soccer final of the Ecuadorian cup. Quito - Cuenca. These are things you cannot miss, so exhausted I went cheering for Quito! During the game two of the twelve guys from the hostel got pickpocketted of their camera! (not me luckily) Quito eventually won the game with 3-2 in the final minute. Then hell just broke loose and we ended up in the middle of some overenthousiast supporters who were shouting and throwing garbage at the police. The first time in my life I got peppersprayed and I can tell you: it is not nice. Luckily I had my glasses on which was a good protection, so it was not that bad.

The next day I left for Baños, which is known for its extreme sports: rafting, canyonning, rope jumping, quad and buggy riding,... Most of it did not interest me, but when coming back from the supermarket with my groceries a guy in the street asked me if I wanted to jump of the bridge and it was now or never, so I went for it. It was the most horrible thing I've ever done! The first second you just feel like you're going to die before the rope catches you and swings you underneath the bridge! (It is not the same as bungee jumping, here you swing like a pendule under the bridge)

After doing that I left Baños, because the town in itself was not that interesting. Late at night I arrived in Cuenca, where I am residing now. Two days ago we went hiking in Girón to some waterfalls and yesterday we went to another town named Baños with some thermal hotsprings. We got ripped off and ended up in a hotel with thermal baths instead of the real deal which was somewhere else. I don't know how long I will stay here, but I'm leaving soon for Peru. There I'm going to spend some time in Mancora (surftown on the Pacific) and Huaraz (Village in the Cordillera Blanca where I heard you can do some very nice mountain biking between the +6,000m mountains with their white caps.)For the 23rd I have to be in Lima from where I will fly out to Bogota to have some holidays. (Travelling is intense, so once in a while you take a break and go on holiday.) I'm going to spend Christmas with Lina and then we're going with some other friends to the Caribean coast for New Year.

For those who are not yet informed, let's make it official: I have a girlfriend in Bogota, yesyes. Lina stole my heart while I was there previously, so it is nicer to celebrate Christmas with people you love instead of alone somewhere in Peru..

To finish I'm going to give you a little glossary, because the same questions keep on coming back.

The Lonely Planet: also called the Bible amongst travellers. This guidebook contains it all.

Hostel: This is not a hotel! It has the same purpose, but you sleep in big dorms (often 6 to 8 beds), eat together with other travellers and have a lot of social time in common rooms.

Traveller: People that are here with the same objective as me: seeing South America. You meet these guys in hostels, bus stations, on the streets, ... The first thing that happens when you enter a hostel is travellers asking you where you're from, where you've travelled, where you're going, how long you're travelling, if you want a beer, ... This is to show you how I meet all these people along the road.

Gringo: How travellers are called by locals. The Mexicans invented this word, it comes from Green Go! Which is what they shouted at the American military to get them out of their country. In Brasil everyone is a gringo, even people from other countries in South America.

Bus station: Has the same purpose and looks like an airport in Europe. This is the main transportation method throughout the continent.

Highway: Does not exist here. Only regular roads, that's why it takes several hours to get from one city to another.

Chicken, rice & beans: The most famous plate of food. I was told that in Peru they replace rice with potatoes. Luckily sometimes there are Mexican, Chinese, Indian,.. restaurants. Or sometimes hostels have a kitchen where you can cook all together. (My pasta with tuna is really appreciated by other travellers!)

Vaya con Dios amigos!

G. on the road