history
Quito is the capital of Ecuador and one of the highest cities in the world! Long ago, the area was home to Indigenous people, including the Quitu tribe. Later, it became part of the powerful Inca Empire. When the Spanish arrived in 1534, they built a new city on top of the old one and gave it the name San Francisco de Quito.
The city grew with beautiful churches, plazas, and cobbled streets—many of which you can still see today. In 1809, Quito became the first place in South America to call for freedom from Spain. Today, Quito is a busy mountain city surrounded by volcanoes, full of history, culture, and friendly people.
camping at coda vista
AKA Andy’s. Andy is a Canadian in his mid 30’s who moved to Quito and brought this piece of land after motorcycling around South America eight years ago. Together with his Girlfriend Gaby they have built an Overlander’s campground. Still greatly in the making, the campground its self is not much to write home about, but it’s Andy’s personality that draws everyone to camp here. They offer vehicle storage, so we left the truck here while we visited the Galapogos.
He’s up early bright eyed & ready to go. Always willing to help with anything. After returning from the islands, Jaxon picked up a bug that had him unwell from both ends, poor kid. Andy didn’t hesitate to drive down the hill early one chilly morning to a pharmacy to get him medicine.
exploring old quito
We first arrived here the day before our flight to the Galápagos. That afternoon, Jaxon, Tim, and I spent some time exploring the old city, while Charley stayed back—she wasn’t feeling well. Jaxon didn’t miss a beat and happily embraced his temporary role as an “only child,” as he put it. Soaking up all the attention and made sure we visited a delightful chocolate café.
cotapaxi National park
June 4th. June 4th. Setting off from Andy’s around 10:30 we made our way down to Cotopaxi National Park. We camped the night at 3,845m with Hew & Sarah in their beautiful LR Defender, which was giving them a terrible time mechanically.
Charley & Tim built a fire. But the night was just too cold to be outside, so it was an early night for us all. Huw & Sarah had hiked the volcano earlier that day & would be moving on tomorrow.
It was a bitterly cold morning. Visibility from the camper was barely 20 feet and didn’t lift until around 8 a.m. We could see our breath inside the truck until Tim turned on the heater to warm things up. Cotopaxi remained hidden in cloud even as we got ready to leave, but we were hopeful.
Bruce struggled to start in the cold and altitude, but we eventually made the slow, 45-minute drive up the ash-and-dirt road to the car park at 4,580 metres. From there, we picked up the switchback trail and began the climb toward 5,000 metres. Fully bundled up, it was a cold, windy hike that left us breathless—more from the altitude than the view.
I’m sure it’s spectacular on a clear day, but not for us. The cloud never really lifted. Still, we made it to the Refugio at just over 5,000 metres. We had hoped to go another 150 metres up to the glacier, but Jaxon’s feet were wet and frozen from the rain.
Instead, we warmed up inside the old wooden hut, decorated with flags from hikers and alpinists from around the world, and enjoyed hot chocolate and snacks before heading back down.
hiking to 5,000m or 16,404ft
June 5th. We made it up and down in one piece, a little disappointed not to reach the glacier, but the conditions were just miserable. The kids did incredibly well—this was their second high-altitude hike!
Back down we swung by a market on our way to our next town of Quilatoa…