For any of you traveling through Quito while in Ecuador, you can’t miss visiting the magnificent active Volcano Cotopaxi, towering at 5,897 meters a.s.l (19,000 feet). Due to its perfectly symmetrical cone, covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice, the Cotopaxi is one of the tourist highlights in Ecuador and it’s most visited and climbed volcano. The Cotopaxi National Park is situated in a beautiful paramo plateau, where wild horses graze on the extensive plains at the foot of the volcano or gather to drink at the lovely Limpiopungo lagoon, which reflects the white peaks of nearby Volcan Rumiñahui and makes a great spot for watching waterfowl and other birds.

Walking in the National Park, you will notice pumice, ash, stone and other volcanic debris amid the tiny páramos plants. On a day trip to the Cotopaxi National Park it is possible to drive as high as 4500m, from here you start hiking up 300m until you reach the Refuge Jose Rivas. The views along the way are breathtaking. If you have still enough energy, you can trek up a sandy scree slope to reach the snout of the glacier at 5000m altitude.

You will be back at your hotel in the late afternoon.