So much to write about, yet so tired!
Today, we woke up early so we could be at the travel agency when they opened. We were successful and now have the rest of our time here mostly planned out. It did not go quite the way we had planned, as we lost part of yesterday because we were told the agencies weren't open all to find out this morning, the one we found was.
Since we do not have time to do everything we want while we are here, we had to decide to choose between many things. We decided not to do the overnight ice climb up Cotopaxi (the 2nd tallest volcano). There were 2 reasons for this... 1) we have so many things we want to fit in and this would take up 2 full days. And 2) after our volcano climb yesterday, and the reading we did that even experienced climbers only make it 50% of the time. With that said, we feel we made a wise decision to fit more in and we will now be waking up early tomorrow to do a 1 day expedition to Cotopaxi which will entail hiking and mountain biking.
After we had everything settled with the agency, we embarqued on our own expedition to find Tucanopy where we would go zip-lining. Because the bus system yesterday did not end successfully, we hired a taxi to bring us the hour and a half there, wait, and return us safely back to Quito. Although he didn't speak a lick of English, and Connie only a little Spanish, we somehow learned to understand one another. Not sure why I said "we", as it was really Connie. God bless her soul! I am trying to learn a little though... My brain is just not a sponge anymore!
The drive was beautiful and we saw the terrain change a lot as we made our way to Nanegalito. Although it took an hour and a half, it was only about 40-45 miles away, but as you can imagine, the mountain roads are very windy. We also drove across the equator line so I can now say I've been in both hemispheres in the same day!
Tucanopy was tucked away off the main mountain road by a very bumpy dirt road that was probably a couple miles, or so it felt. Once there, we were greeted by a very nice British gal who brought us to the 2 guides who would take us on our zip-line tour. With them, was 2 couples also out for the same adventure. We very quickly made friends with them. They all were from Quito, but spoke very good English and very kindly translated for us what our main guide was sharing. (I could go on for hours about what we learned and will likely come back and add some of it in.) It was amazing though, this place is very eco-friendly and part (half I think) of the $18 fee goes to conservation of the Tucanopy (zip-line), which is in what they call the Cloud Forest. Yes, we zip-lined through the clouds at one point.
I was a bit disappointed my camera wasn't working so Connie & I were trading hers back & forth to try to get pics of each other. (I'll leave out the part that I later discovered the battery was in backwards. Hey.. another reason why I don't like point & shoots!) Anyway, One of the guys in the group had a nice camera and they decided to take some photos of us to email later. They were seriously the nicest people. We couldn't have had a better experience!
We went down 7 lines, if my memory serves me. Some were shorter, some longer. Some were faster and some were slower. Well, one was really slow. They did warn us that it was the slowest so not to break at all. I didn't break and felt like I was moving at a pace good enough to land me at the base, but then I see the guide jump on the line by the base & started bouncing (apparently this was supposed to help me gain speed as he felt I was moving too slow). Next thing I know... I not only come to a stop, but am now moving BACKWARDS! And I felt like I was moving as fast as I had been moving forward. Then, all of a sudden, I was at a dead stop, stranded in the middle of of this zipline! So the guide at the bottom hooks himself on the line and comes to my rescue, which, was no easy feat! I was a ways out there and he had to climb upwards. I figured when we were finally hooked together, the weight of the both of us would bring us down quickly. Nope. We had to pull ourselves down. I finally get to the bottom and everyone is having a good laugh about it, including myself! (ok, maybe not the guide who came to my rescue because he was exhausted by his heroic efforts, but really, he was great about it). Seriously, who gets stuck in the middle of a zip-line?
On that note... I should get some sleep as we have an early morning tomorrow to head to Cotopaxi for our hiking & biking adventure in which I should get rested for.
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