My Trip to Cotopaxi

Hola Y´all,
As I mentioned yesterday, today Chris Morck and I went to an ecological park that surrounds one of the post prominent volcanos near Quito, called Cotopaxi. He picked me up at 5:30 AM and we drove through the empty streets of Quito and up, from 10,000 to over 14,000 feet toward the park. As usual Quito was enshrouded in deep fog and it wasn´t until near sunrise at 6:30 that we started to get out of it. Incidentally, you may be interested to know that on the equator the sun rises and sets every day at exactly the same time all year round and it rises at exactly 6:30 AM and sets at exactly 6:30 PM.
The road to the park is incredibly rough and inside the park it was even rougher. Chris has a 4x4 pick up and we had no problems but it is a ride not to be forgotten. Another incidental piece of info: When I am in a car I almost always hang onto the ¨Oh, my God¨ handle just above the passenger door window. I do this because everyone constantly swerves abruptly, weaving in and out of the maniacal traffic here. Also on rough roads, like the ones we were on today, holding on to that handle is a necessity. I will come home with a much stronger right arm than when I left for sure.
We arrived at the park expecting that the fog would preclude us from seeing much if any of the volcano. Infact the constant fog and cloudy conditions have been the only real disappointment on this trip as they have effectively killed any chance to take good landscape and scenic photos. I expected today would be no exception, but went hopefully anyway.
Well, to our great surprise, we got some very good light as the sun played ¨peep-a-boo¨ through the clouds, and when we got to were we had the best chance to see the volcano, the clouds that covered the snow line around the volcano slowly began to lift. We never could see the top of the volcano, but we surely saw more than most people ever see and it was incredible. I hope my photos do it justice. We were up about 14,000-15,000 feet in altitude. There are no trees because we were well above the tree line. That area is called locally by the name ¨paramo¨. It has some similarities in appearance to the tundra of Alaska. The ground is sponge-like, very wet and very soft with tiny vegetation and very tiny, and very gorgeous red, blue and yellow flowers. There are volcanic rocks of all sizes everywhere left from volcanic eruptions that have occurred over thousands of years. Herds of wild horses roam the paramo, and we saw many of them. Wild llamas also roam the paramo, but they are less frequently seen. But since we were riding a wave of great luck, we did see a few as we were driving back toward the entrance to the park as we left and that was a thrill.
It was a magical experience in every way. I am so grateful to Chris for taking the day to show me this wonder of nature that few ever get to experience.
Tomorrow and Friday I have Spanish classes in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning I am going to the Office of Tourism and replace the Lonely Planet book on Ecuador that has been my second bible on this trip. I left it in the car I was in when we had the crash and forgot to get it out before thay took the car away. I depend every day on information provided in that book.
Friday morning I am going to an Episcopal church here in Quito that I was at briefly early in my trip. It is called ¨Chrtisto, el Librador¨, Christ, the Liberator. It has a magnificent ministry to the poor area in which it is located, including a day car center for about 45 children every day. Most are children of single mothers who work. They charge $25 per week, per child, and it cost about $40 per child, per week. The meal the children get at the church is the best meal, and often the only meal they get. The congregation at this church is the largest in the entire diocese. In addition to the day care they also have several progams for elderly people, and a host of other programs. This is a tiny church located in run-down buildings that they are trying to repare and expand to accommodate their ever-increasing services to the neighborhood. Friday morning I will go to the church to photograph their minsitries and their people and I plan to go to church there on Sunday.
It is a truly inspiring group of faithful people who do so much with so little, operating soley on faith that somehow the money and resources they need will be found to continue their ministries.
Well, it has been a long day and I need to go to the grociery store for a few things for supper and then I will relax and watch the Aminal Planet and National Geographic channels in Spanish until 8:00 when I will watch Robert Lehrer and see how the primary elections are going.
I send my love to you all and pray for you all every day (among the people I pray for every day I include, ¨and everyone who reads my blog¨) so if you read my blog you get prayed for, at absolutely no extra charge.
¨Adios y amor¨ from near the middle of the earth.
Glenn+