The Hellish Volcano and More

So, as you can probably guesse from the title, cotaopaxi was very difficult. We had a one hour hike to the refuge, and that alone proved to be tough. then we chilled out all day and got in bed at around 7 or 8. At 11:30, we were woken up by our guides and knew that the ascension would soon begin. We ate breakfast (the earliest ive ever had) and left the refuge by 1 in the morning. It looked like a movie. 12 figures, all with headlamps, slowly hiking into the darkness. Once we got to the glacier (the majority of the hike was over ice) we strapped on our cramp ons (basically just spikes on the soles of your feet) and started up. the guides taught us a couple different techniques of walking with the cramp ons and split us up into groups. after an hour or so we started on a steep part that lasted for ever. we finally made it to the top of that, and continued on. The wind picked up, and soon it got a lot colder. The last hour was the hardest part of the upward half of the climb. I felt like my legs were on fire and my lungs would explode. All I wanted was a nice, full breath of oxygen, but could not get one. Once we got to the top, I just fell over and continued my panting. A couple minutes later I started to appreciate the view. I could see so far into the distance. It was incredible. We were well above the clouds, and could see mountains poking through them. We only stayed for five or ten minutes because it was too cold and windy. The was down was by far, the worst part of the day. We were all exhausted, but we had to keep goign and get back down. We had to break every ten or fifteen minutes we were so tired. Our exhaustion also made it slightly more dangerous. I did not fall over once on the way up, but on the way down I fell over at least three times. All in all, I am glad I did it but I don´t think I´ll be doing anything like it anytime soon. Our last week at the animal shelter was fun. It was Merle´s birthday on thursday, so everyone at the shelter celebrated that night in the ¨party room.¨ The Ecuadorian tradition of whipping the birthday boy as many times as he had years of life was carried out. We left Santa Martha fully satisfied. We were sad to go yet ready to move on. We spent this weekend in Banos, a small town about 3 hours south of Quito. It is such a sweet place, but quite turisty and full of gringos. On our first day, we spent the evening in one of the town´s hot springs, that supposedly, are heated completely by a near by volcano. Yesterday, we watched the Ireland v. Argentina World Cup Rugby match in the morning (it was a slaughter by Argentina) and then went white water rafting. Last night, we decided once again to hit up the hot springs. It was much nicer last night because there weren´t half as many people as there were on Saturday night. While there, we were each given plastic cups by two little girls, who then proceeded to get cold water from the shower and dumped it on our heads. A water fight resulted, and the two little girls were sad to see us leave. This morning, I will go to Santa Martha Flor de la Amazonia, the sister animal shelter of the one i previously volunteered at. This one is thirty five kilometers into the Amazon, and should be just as good as the last shelter. Merle and John are going to a small village deep in the Amazon to learn the Amazonian way of life. I don´t think there is internet at the animal shelter, so I will probably be out of contact for a week or two. Adios!