Cotopaxi and Latacunga: 3 very tough days

We left Quito heading south towards the Cotopaxi National Park.
Cotopaxi is a 5800 meters active volcano which has been very destructive over the centuries.
In its last eruption in 1877 completely destroyed the town of Latacunga and the dust went as far as Colombia.
The entrance of the national park is at km 43 and it not very easy to spot. The road is in fact all gravel.
10 meters from the left turn the road goes up hill quite steeply. At the top of this mini hill, before becoming level, there is also a train rail which is sticking out from the ground.
I immediately spotted the danger and asked Elena to get off the bike in order to cross the train rail.
The centre of the bike is quite low, this is due to the weight (380kgs when fully loaded with bags and passengers) and with the central stand pointing down.
Any time we drive over speed bumps for example we can feel the stand scratching the bump, and an exposed train rail positioned uphill does not look easy to cross.
And in fact the lateral stand hit the metal rail quite heavily to the point that it completely bent by 90 degrees.

I did manage to keep the bike up but the damage was done.
We found accommodation 200 meters from the entrance at the Huagra Corral hotel.
The hotel is very nice and people extremely friendly but unfortunately they do not have central heating nor hot water.
Elena got sick the following day therefore I went to climb the Cotopaxi alone with our guide.
In 3 days we never managed to get a clear picture of the volcano as the weather was bad with clouds, snow and strong wind.
This is the best picture we could take on day one at our arrival.

When you climb Cotopaxi you have 2 options:

You can drive on a jeep up to 4000 meters and then climb half way up to the chalet at 4810 meters or you can climb to the chalet on day one, slip until midnight and then climb the remaining 1000 meters of glaciers over night.

I clearly opted for option 1 as Elena was not well at the hotel and also because I didn't have the necessary gear to walk on a glacier (and these are my excuses).

The climb to the chalet is not easy, in particular if it's snowing and the wind is blowing in your face.

I was lucky enough to have brought with me my thermal bike balaclava and the guide gave me some walking sticks.

The 2 Argentinean tourists that we picked up on the jeep while crossing the national park gave up pretty much immediately as they did not have the necessary gear and they were also carrying heavy bags.

This is a picture of my guide walking in front

Some hostile terrain

And finally reaching the chalet

Inside the chalet I was very happy for 2 reasons: I was finally warming up drinking hot chocolate and I was very proud to notice that the chalet was empty as we were the only 2 people that had made it that morning.

Happiness soon disappeared when I asked for the toilet and I was told it was outside. The bog was completely filled till the top with a solid block of yellow ice....... not nice!!!!

As the weather was slightly improving it was time to begin our descent, not without taking one last picture though!

During our descent the clouds opened up slightly finally revealing a spectacular landscape

Driving back we gave a final look at the volcano still covered in clouds behind us

Back at the hotel Elena was still unwell.

We decided to stick around for 1 more day just to see whether she would recover enough to drive at least to Latacunga (40 kms away).

It was a catch 22. Staying in that freezing hotel wasn't good for her, but driving on a bike wasn't good either.

The following morning as there was no sign of improvement, we opted to leave.

I checked the bike before putting all the luggage on and I noticed that the central stand was a bit unstable. On a closer look it appeared that also the central stand had been damaged by the impact and in actual fact it was now so bent that was dangerously touching the bike's chain.

I could not drive with the full stand up so Elena had to keep her foot on the stand to keep it low enough not to touch the chain and high enough not to touch the ground.

She did a great job. We covered our 40 kms in this fashion and when we finally arrived in town I dropped Elena at the hotel and went looking for  a mechanic.

The first mechanic I found told me that "frankly the bike was too much for him and he did not have the skills to help!".

I asked another biker on the road who pointed me to a bigger shop.

The shop keeper took a look at the problem.

Unfortunately the issue was worse than originally prospected. The central stand wasn't bent. The metal plank holding the stand was actually cracked in 3 points.

The mechanic told me he could not help as the iron needed to be put back into the original shape and welded and he did not have the right tools.

He eventually pointed me in the right direction.

The person who finally helped me wasn't in fact a mechanic at all. He was a professional welder.

In his "shop" you could find all sort of metal products and parts but certainly not motorcycles.

And yet this man looked at the problem and started working on it straight away.

For the second time on this trip I regretted I did not have with me my camera or phone to take pictures or videos.

For 2 and half hours this small Andean man fought against German technology using his hands hammer and a scalpel (and of course a welder in the end).

I think he won hands down.

No need to say that a little crowd had also formed around us watching the show unravelling in this courtyard.

When it came to pay the bill he shyly asked for £6......

Let's say we both left each other with a big smile on our face.

Back at the hotel, around 4 pm with empty stomach I asked for Elena's room.

They told me they didn't have a guest with that name. The only single woman in the hotel was an American tourist called Jessica.

For a moment I did feel like a squeeze in my stomach; all sort of potential horrible scenarios went through my head; luckly even this last issue was soon resolved.

it was only a misunderstanding.

Elena was safe asleep in room 11.