Sunday drive

We have a couple days before our jungle and Galapagos trips so we wanted to visit Cotopaxi, the second highest volcano in Ecuador. We also wanted to do some laundry done on a Sunday. We also figured we could get some more Chinese food, for the kids, or course. It turns out Sunday traffic in Quito is minimal and driving is a breeze. We drove to a couple laundry places and chose one which was not busy. We dropped off the laundry which would be done in a little over an hour. We went to look for dumplings but struck out on two places and finally went back to the place we visited a couple weeks ago. We had the same food and it was great and we ordered some to go so we could have dinner. The dumplings are $4 for 10 dumplings, so it is cheaper than buying frozen dumplings.

Garlic cilantro sauce. Yum

After the laundry ($7) we headed to Cotopaxi, just as it started to pour. On the side of the road there were hundreds of people in makeshift plastic shelters and with campfires, waving at the cars. I read that these were people hoping to flag down people to give them some money or gifts for the holidays. We also drove through a couple string road blocks with men dressed in women's clothing and paper mache masks. We gave some change. Apparently this is a new years tradition, sort of like trick or treating. There were also effigies for sale on the side of the road for new years eve burning. The effigies were mostly superheroes.

When we arrived at the national Park entrance the gate closed. Apparently the entrance closes at 3 pm. There is a parking lot next to the gate and there were two man trucks there. We parked and introduced ourselves. They were from Belgium and the uk. I spoke with David, the British man. They were both traveling north and happened to run into each other today. The Belgium couple has been in South America for seven years. The British couple has been in South America for two years. We spoke for almost an hour while the kids played outside.

We heated up the Chinese food for dinner.

We are at 10875 ft. Last night was very restless for us, I think because of the altitude. It can take three days to acclimate. Andy gave us some coca tea bags and we had a little today.