September 12, 2010

The Big Tease

I am home!  I have not seen Solo yet, sigh.  But reports note that he is fine, if a bit sad.  I have downloaded the pictures from the past nine days.  Now to work on sorting & editing & recounting!  To keep you salivating until then....  (I shouldn't post my favourite picture first, but I love it too much not to)

This is me & Sam in Cotopaxi National Park, south of Quito.  Cotopaxi is the jaw-dropping volcano you see behind us.  Yes, it is real, & yes, it is active.  We were not far from the lower slopes, my little camera just sucked at metering in contrast situations. 

You can climb the volcano if you want.  Except you have to start at midnight & summit by sunrise so you are off the ice by 10 am.  Because then the ice bridges start to get brittle in the sun & you die.

But other than that...oh, & the fact that the summit is at 5,897 m (19,347 ft) & I couldn't even walk uphill for ten steps at 4000 m after a week of acclimatization...it's easy as pie!

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful! And Sam looks like a doll! Can't wait to see and hear more about your trip.

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  2. Looks stunning. That's an adventure of a lifetime. "Sam"? I thought they were named after the Taco Bell menu? Didn't you mention a horse named "Tostada" in an earlier post? I want to rename Misty to Tostada, but it really wouldn't fit her looks. What kind of horse is Sam? He's a cutie. Were the horses comfortble to ride?

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  3. AHHHH, so beautiful. What a tease you are! I can't wait.

    Also, Sam in not that little! You had me imagining you were dragging your feet in the ground.

    Tsk, eventers.

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  4. ROFL, OUAE, that's what I said! "Sam" is not a very romantic name!

    lh, Sam was a normal sized horse, you are right. He was perhaps 15.3. Capuli, in the first half of the week, was much smaller, more like 15 h.

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  5. Volcano, schalcano. That's one cute horse! (what did you expect from a bunch of horsey bloggers?)

    Seriously, it looks like a stunning place.

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  6. Hahahahha, Breathe! My thoughts exactly!

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  7. Having nothing to do with your fantastic adventures or Sam the cutie horse, I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger award.

    Of which you can play or not play depending on how annoying it feels to you today.

    Details are over at my place.

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