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Cotopaxi Express: Nugent & Team Enjoy Quito and the Equator

Posted by: Billy Nugent | July 01, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 9,350'

Hello everyone following along back home and welcome to another series of dispatches from this year’s summer Cotopaxi Express trip!

After a long night of scuttling back and forth from the airport Jaime and myself finally got the crew settled in last night at our hotel here in Quito. Since everyone is usually a bit bushed from long travel times from the states we typically start out our first day of the program on a city tour of some of Quito’s colonial sites in addition to a visit to the exact geographical equator. We were fortunate enough to climb the bell tower in the Basilica (a neo-gothic cathedral), walk the streets of the old town (world’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site), visit the Church de la Compañia de Jesús (baroque interior guilded w/ 7 tons of gold leaf and one of the oldest churches in South America), and play with funky coriolis phenomena on the exact geographical equator. Despite the lack of physical exertion, the gang was still pretty tired after cruising around town all day at an elevation around 9,000’. We ran some errands, took a little siesta, and then met up for our first team dinner later this evening. The gang is starting to open up a bit and get to know each other better, a good thing considering the challenges ahead! Tomorrow begins the first of our acclimatization hikes…

Hasta mañana,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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