Ecuador is a small country but garners impressive diversity. Within a country of ~110,000 square miles (the size of the US state of Colorado), you can find:

• Amazon Rainforest
• 20,000+ foot mountains (Chimborazo being the highest at 20,500)
• Lush Andean foothills
• Dense urban areas (Quito, Guayaquil)
• Pristine beaches
• Adventure / thrills – Baños
• One of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, the Galapagos islands

After two days in Quito, Ecuador, I headed south to the Cotopaxi region.

Secret Garden Cotopaxi Hostel

No hotel or hostel has ever etched itself in my memory. I have never thought about returning to a place simply based on the feel of the lodging. The Secret Garden Cotopaxi has rendered that statement entirely untrue. It is ranked in the top 1% of all TripAdvisor hotels globally for good reason. And it is still somewhat off-the-radar: its in Ecuador but not in the Galapagos which has not hit a tourist boom yet, and it cannot be booked with booking.com or Expedia.

As I reflect on this trip, this was one of the highlights.

Common Spaces

The common areas were the best of any place I have been. Nobody spent much time in their room / dorm. Everyone was outside because of the amazing views, or in the common areas, which encouraged people to get together and get to know each other. Perhaps best of all… no wifi and no cell service. No distractions, so everyone talked, read, and relaxed without being constantly drawn back into their normal day-to-day lives. This is probably what made the place so magical.

Waterfall Hike

Shortly after arrival and lunch, we had the opportunity to do the “waterfall hike”, which was a two-hour hike up and back down a small river to a large waterfall. Water boots were provided. I nearly hiked in my Chacos and that would have been a [frigid] [muddy] [slippery] bad idea. The terrain was moderately challenging including some steep muddy descents, lots of walking through calf deep water, some sketchy scrambles along sharp rocks 10-15 feet above the river, and even a waterfall ascent.

Of course the tradition is for everyone to strip down to their swimsuits and jump into the 7 degree Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit) water. 14 out of 15 people did.. and I wasn’t about to be among the detractors. It was cold, but refreshing.

Views

Part of the magic of the Secret Garden is the amazing views. They are, literally, in every direction.

Most afternoons are supposedly rainy. When we arrived, Cotopaxi was completely hidden. By the time we returned from the waterfall hike and got some coffee, it started to peak through the clouds, and we were awarded some fantastic views.

Family Style Dinners

Perhaps my favorite part of the experience was the family style dinner. Everyone eats together in the same room at the same time at a large table. The food was also great. With Christmas only a week out, we had Christmas lights, Christmas music, bottles of wine, candlelight, hot food, good people.. it was nearly perfect.

Everyone was pretty happy.

A lot of people went to bed early (9pm), but I met some new friends from Tampa and learned a new game called Durak, which is a Russian card game where the goal is not to be the Durak (“idiot” or “dumbass”). It is a super fun game, and we played both of the nights I was there. The second night, one of the guys younger guys we played with got pretty drunk. He poked the fire for some reason and a few minutes later, we noticed the air was a little smoky. The non-drunk people (the rest of us) ran over to the fire and found a log had rolled out onto the dog bed that was at the foot of the fire. The dog (my favorite — the beagle) hadn’t moved. The Russian who taught us the card game picked the flaming log up by hand and threw it back in. We saved one of the most amazing places in the world from burning to the ground. Whew. I am glad a few of us stayed up playing cards.

Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi is an active volcano a few hours south of Quito. Its summit is 19,350 feet above sea level. It sits in a large national park accessed by dirt and gravel roads (usually at high speeds). We took a day trip to the National Park to visit the glacier and the mountain bike down from the base camp parking lot.

If you climb Cotopaxi, you camp at the base camp Refugio (lodge) the first night and then head to the summit at midnight. If I had thought about summiting when packing, I definitely would have done it. I had all the warm gear necessary, but I came with only tennis shoes. No hiking boots. Next time. All trips start at the parking lot and hike up a steep slog of loose dirt to the Refugio at 15,953 feet.

I definitely noticed the altitude on the climb up, but quickly caught my breath after a 2-3 minute rest.

Inside the Refugio are many flags from different countries with the names/dates of climbers.

America was out of room, but we did find a second American flag in a different area. Nobody had written on it yet, so my friend Mike and I decided to be the first.

After a quick glance, some of the group continued up the base of the glacier.

Mountain Biking

By far the scariest thing I have ever done is mountain bike down Cotopaxi. It’s not the trail or road or elevation or steepness. It is, without question, the bikes. They are clearly 30+ years old, and the person that built them never imagined they would be used to descend an active volcano. I guess that’s what you get in South America when you rent a bike for $10.

On the first section, my brakes barely worked and I could smell the break pads the entire way down. Well, I might crash. Its not the end of the world — I’ve done it before. Oh. I also had a tweety bird helmet covered with duck tape. A poke on the side reminded me of poking a soggy egg carton. Well, what could go wrong there? I had to develop a rhythm of increase speed, too fast, slam on brakes and nearly stop, repeat.

For the second section of the trail, I swapped bikes. Braking was much better. Brakes were not needed though. This bike wouldn’t shift gears, so I was stuck with a single gear: the easiest. If you have ridden bikes, you know that isn’t a good gear to have when going fast down hills. So, my second part of the ride included no brakes and lots of coasting until nearly reaching a complete stop. At that point I could peddle 5-6 times really fast and create enough speed to coast again. Fun fun fun. Maybe I am spoiled with my Santa Cruz Hightower?

Nevertheless, I survived to ride another day.

That’s it for Cotopaxi and the Secret Garden. Cheers!