The Cotopaxi Ride
The Cotopaxi Ride almost circumnavigates Cotopaxi volcano and takes you far off the beaten track to explore the highlands surrounding Antisana volcano with nights in rustic local accommodation.
Please note that the itinerary may change depending on the weather at the time and other local conditions.
Day 1 Drive out of Quito and meet the horses. This first day offers a very varied route including some tricky sections - where you dismount and let the horses negotiate the rocky riverbeds on their own, and also some exhilarating canters across the grasslands (5 hrs). You arrive at a working hacienda and have to carefully negotiate the pastures - this farm is famous for its feisty Spanish fighting bulls! The scenery is spectacular with very varied with green valleys, rolling hills and you are surrounded by jagged rocky summits and snow capped peaks. Arrive at the hacienda for tea then to admire the sunset, in magnificent surroundings.
Overnight at this charming traditional adobe and thatch hacienda, a working farm situated on the edge of Cotopaxi national park. Twin/double and triple rooms; shared bathrooms (option of paying a supplement for private bathroom).
Day 2 Rejoin your horses and after following some tracks and cobbled roads up the valley to a very large hacienda you take to huge grassy fields and enjoy some exhilarating canters across the pastures and then ride towards the National Park through the foothills of Sincholagua volcano approaching the perfectly conical shape of the snow capped Cotopaxi Volcano (the highest active volcano in the world) (7hrs). Sincholagua clearly marks the continental divide – the precipitation that falls on the western side runs down and ends up on the Ecuadorian coast in the Pacific ocean while that of the eastern sides eventually joins the Amazon and goes on to the Atlantic ocean via Brazil. Having avoided more fighting bulls you turn westwards, cross a river and arrive at a working farm at the base of Ruminahui Volcano for a comfortable overnight in a traditional adobe and thatch farmhouse. Twin rooms with shared bathrooms.
Day 3 Today you ride up through the high ‘paramo’ (the natural Andean vegetation below the snow line) through a sea of long grass then areas of low bushes and lichen covered ground. Hillstars (Andean hummingbirds) flit around between the native Andean bushes and caracaras and birds of prey also inhabit these hillsides. Condors have been sighted soaring overhead. We often meet the herds of wild horses that roam the park; they may gallop alongside the ride, long manes and tails flowing. Crossing streams at the head of a valley and following tracks around the craggy Ruminahui peak we reach a high pass (4,200). Traversing scree slopes with magnificent views of the surrounding Andean peaks and valleys below we drop down into the Machachi Valley. Riding on you leave the open grasslands and ride through cultivated lands – the very fertile black volcanic soils are ideal for wonderful crops of potatoes. You ride on to a charming converted farmhouse with flowering gardens filled with lilies in time for your evening meal and overnight. Twin rooms with private or shared bathrooms.
Day 4 Today you ride south through the ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’. The views are magnificent, with the rocky Ruminahui peak, Corazon Volcano, the twin Iliniza peaks sprinkled with snow and a host of other summits lining the central valley (6hrs).
Your destination, on the Lasso plains, is a very old family hacienda. The wide sandy tracks and grassy paths are ideal for some more fast-pace riding as you ride the length of a valley scraped out by glaciers at the end of the ice age. In places you ride over layers of pumice stone – deposited by the volcanoes, and during the ride the horses expertly negotiate two steep gorges.
You are likely to pass local ladies wearing brightly coloured, pleated skirts and their traditional hats. The original houses in this area are built of dried grass laid over a wooden frame and, from the back, look like haystacks rather than dwellings, nevertheless happy children come piling out to chase their llamas, pigs and sheep off to open pastureland. You leave the horses in good pastures and take a short drive to a comfortable, hosteria. A delicious dinner of traditional Ecuadorian fare before retiring for the night. Double/twin rooms with private bathrooms.
Day 5 You once again leave the adobe huts and patchwork fields behind and climb up into the huge expanses of wild grasslands. Enjoying views of several of the snow capped peaks of the ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’: Chimborazo (Ecuador’s highest peak), Tungurahua in the distance and Cotopaxi, you cross the beautiful paramo grasslands, without a house in sight.
After another delicious picnic in the breathtaking scenery, you cross over a ridge and come even closer to the Cotapaxi Volcano. Very few people manage to visit this stunning place and the wonderful tranquillity and huge expanses of almost uninhabited open spaces are easy to appreciate.Ride along a river bed and across the grasslands close to the jagged Quilindana summit. A good chance of seeing the mighty Andean condor, deer, the Andean fox and high altitude hummingbirds (hillstars) as well as large birds of prey soaring overhead. Occasionally you may meet a chagra with his trusty dog riding out to check the cattle. As you round a hill and cross some native scrubland you come very close to Cotopaxi and often sight Antisana Volcano complete with glacier on the horizon - the views are truly magnificent. The house you stay at tonight is a ‘tambo’ built out of Inca stone – roaring fires and lovely staff ensure a warm welcome. There is no light pollution and the Equator-line sky is packed with stars, including the southern cross. Twin bedded rooms (partitions dividing the sleeping areas). Shared bathrooms.
Day 6 Today you will turn west and ride back into Cotopaxi National Park, through the northern foothills of the Volcano. Leaving the ‘tambo’ you follow a rocky riverbed then carefully traverse some marshlands between a series of small lakes. Andean duck and also Ibis are often seen here, among the wild iris. The valley then opens out and you follow a lava flow with strange conical hills ‘popping out’ at intervals – these mounds are formed by volcanic hotspots (now cooled down!) and create quite a bizarre topography. In the afternoon you arrive onto some wonderful grassy plains allowing some long canters – often joined by the wild horses that roam the area, until you arrive at the accommodation for the night: a wonderful ‘straw bale and adobe’ construction with magnificent views of Cotopaxi Volcano. Several llamas live on the property and you will have the chance to admire these curious creatures. Double/twin rooms with shard bathrooms, some dormitory rooms.
Day 7 You ride out for a final day in the wild open ‘paramo’ (6 hrs). After some fast paced riding, you climb up scree slopes and over rocky outcrops close to the summit of Sincholagua. As you cross the expanses of grassland and admire the endless views across the rolling hills -not a fence or even a hut for miles around, you have an excellent view of the peculiar geological features such as drumlins, hillocks, mud and lava flows produced by ice age (glacial) activity and then various eruptions of the mighty Cotopaxi volcano. You pass through some native Andean woodlands and also enjoy the sight of tiny Andean wildflowers – Indians’ paintbrush, gentians, deer’s head, lupins, all seemingly too fragile to survive in the highlands. This is another good spot to see the Andean condor and also deer.
The ‘chagras’ that guide you across this haunting landscape spend their lives here and will carefully lead you between the muddy wetlands. The skyline is dominated by the magnificent Andean peaks: Cotopaxi, Antisana, Quilindaña, Pichincha and many more – the land of the volcanoes.
Descending Sincholagua, you arrive back at the farm where the horses stay. Time to say farewell to your local guides and your trusty steeds and drive back to Quito to overnight. Twin/double rooms with private bathroom.
