Cotopaxi (aka Our Mountain)

The school arranged a day trip to Cotopaxi, a volcano that last errupted in 1999. We rode for ~2 hours on the bus, through new sections of Quito (rural farming areas; everyone had a cow tethered in their yard), then parked at the bottom of the day's challenge, a 45 min hike up the volcanic trail to the yellow lodge for hot chocolate. Even that prize could not convince G and I to do it - the altitude was making us really tired. Noelani took the challenge, though, and she MADE IT! :-)

About the time she got to the lodge, the beautiful weather shifted. Our host mom told us to ask the mountain for permission to visit, and we did, but perhaps not everyone did...it got cloudy (as in, we were IN the clouds), windy (ok, it was no hurricane sandy, but still), and rainy/hailing. G and I, who had been chillin' on the bus, playing "cards uno" (uno with regular playing cards), stepped out to experience the hail, and greet Noelani upon her triumphant return.

A few pix of G moving volcanic rock, and the before and after pix of the weather surrounding the trail and the yellow lodge (pix 2 and 8).