Our guide, Wilson, drove us south along the Pan-American Highway to get to Cotopaxi National Park. The plan for day two included climbing a bit of Cotopaxi volcano, and in order to prepare for the altitude we stopped at a couple of places in order to drink some coca tea.
We met Elvita at the first coca tea stop, which was basically a convenience store/gas station. She spoke no English, and I have a very few straggling words of Spanish, but with Wilson's help, she and I ended up having a nice little conversation about how beautiful her country is. I remember the words "linda" and "hermosa" coming up, which reminded me of place names like Linda Vista and Hermosa Beach.
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| Elvita and Mr. H Off to the right of Mr. Hunter (your right, not his) is some Ecuadorian chocolate we bought: Chocolate Superior La Universal. Yum! |
Here we are drinking our Delisse-brand coca tea.
None of us felt any strange side effects from drinking it, and none of us who drank the tea felt any altitude sickness once we went up the mountain.
somewhere between Quito and Cotopaxi
Ecuador
June 2011
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