Cerro Atacazo is a volcano of at the edge of south Quito. It is on the western side of the “Avenue of Volcanos”. At the summit the elevation is 14,642ft/4463meters.
Daniela and her friends were heading there for their first time and I was invited to tag along. I was looking forward to finally making a summit. It is considered a good beginner hike of about 2 hours each way. Well where we started out it turned out to be 3 1/2 hours to the Summit.
The sun was out but the higher in elevation the more we were in the clouds. The trail was mostly a gravel road all up hill. I think I did pretty good the first hour and kept the main group in sight. After that I got a little slower. Daniela and Ibis slowed their pace and kept me company. Ibis bless her heart even acted like she was winded. I really enjoyed watching Daniela interact with Ibis. Daniela is a teacher/student and Ibis is is a bright young lady so tagging behind them listening to their conversation in Español made my walk (did I say ALL up hill) easier. Daniela’s students and their parents really like the way she teaches and I can see why. She is very good with kids and I was impressed.
We stopped and took a break and as a hiker passed us on his way down he said we only had a 1/2 hour more to go. We were in the clouds, the wind was cold with a little moisture and the main group had already reached the summit. I decided to call it a day and head back down. I did not want to be holding everyone back as I already had Daniela and Ibis. I believe we were above 13,700ft when I whimped out. Well not really whimped out because with a little more time I would have made it. Just not fair of me to hold up the group. I will go back and make the summit. Being it was so cloudy you couldn’t see much anyway so I don’t feel I missed much by not making the summit on this day.
I really enjoyed the walk down and enjoyed the solitude. Even better my hands thawed out. On the way home while riding in the van Ibis and I had a nice conversation in English which she has a very good handle on.
I hope to keep getting better and maybe actually keep up with the groups pace one day. I sure appreciate Daniela’s patience for the gringo, thank you Daniele! If there is a next time I’m invited to go along with the group she can set the pace to push the group (after all she is the leader) and I will just bring up the rear. Again not fair for me to hold everyone back. I am really enjoying it I just need to stick to it. Thanks goes to Edwin and Elena for dropping us off and picking us up.
It was Carnival weekend and we were invited to dinner on the way home. Our second party in two days.
Just a wonderful time. Sorry the pictures don’t show much of the volcano but it was cloudy!
