Cotapaxi/ While I Blister On The Bum

We return to Quito, and can't wait to get the hell out of here again. So we head to the sister hostel of where we are staying 'The Secret Garden- Cotapaxi', a 2 hour bumpy ride from town and near a big old volcano. And we love it as soon as we get there. The hostel overlooks miles and miles of lush green countryside all the way up to the clear skies surrounding the volcano. The hostel itself is like a warm country house, log burning fire blazing away near two giant sofas, Dalmation dogs padding around making a nuisance of themselves, long communal table with board games stuffed on a shelf. All this... AND a compost toilet.

And the people are great too. Lazing about in hammocks and sofas, reading books and chatting. Jodi, the new manager hails from England and makes us feel comfortable straight away. Absolutely exhausted from our rainforest extravaganza, we can do little els the first night, barely able to muster the strength to play scrabble and drink a glass of wine. Meals are all inclusive and served up at a family style dining table, delicious food cooked from allotment grown produce. I try not to think of what kind of compost they thrived on.

The next day and somehow i've managed to find myself booked on a horse riding trip. Its something I never feel entirely comfortable with despite wanting to let the inner cowboy in me out. But my favoured option of fishing is no longer in season and I succomb to Becky's love of horse riding. Which starts really nicely, the sun shining as we able down a winding country lane. But ends in bitter cold misery as a sleet rain descends upon us. Hands barely able to function and bum feeling not just a little uncomfortable we dismount with immense relief.

[NB. Holly. You have complained about my blog containing too many graphical details as to the inner workings of my stomach and other unpleasant ramblings I may have innocently detailed in these here pages. So be warned, you may not want to read the next paragraph my sensitive little sis!]

Returning to the warm comforts of home, I immediately jump into the shower to bring some life back into my frost bitten skeleton. And as the blood starts pumping back into place, I shriek in horror as I feel what I believe to be two snake fangs sinking into my bum. Yelling in horror, Becky runs down stairs to see what all the fuss is about. 'Somethings bitten me, where the hell is it?'. But the culprit is nowhere to be found. The revelation slowly dawns on me that I actually have saddle sores on my bum as Becky points out that I have a perfectly mirrored blister on each bum cheek. Rather like a flesh Rorscarch test. Not being able to stretch to see it for myself, I get Becky to take a photo of the offending (In many, many ways) area and show it to me. Which she does with relative glee.

As a consequence of forgetting to delete these photos, two days later, a Dutch lady who is looking through our snaps gets a bit of a shock and politely hands it back to us looking rather embarassed. Any explanation as to what it is only make makes matters worse and us seem more perverted. And I now can't help singing 'While I Blister on the Bum' to the tune of The Violent Femmes 'Blister in the Sun'.

The next day we opt to climb up the initial stages of the Volcano. Glad to be on my feet instead of sitting down, we get dropped off by car at the foot of the Volcano and climb up to 5,000 meters. Which tests a few of the group, who struggle for breath at this height and have to take it slowly. A Snickers bar and a hot chocolate at the snowy refugio rewards our success. Before a group of kids enter, playing disturbingly mangled music through their mobile phones. So its doesn't just happen on the underground! Grrrrrrr.

At night we feed our new found hunger for Scrabble with anyone who will play. Jodi manages to win each and every game with ease as she organises kitchen staff and answers questions from dwellers mid turn. Our final game descends into rudeness as we spell out funny captions and take photographs of each other with such things as pieces stuck into our 'teef'.

We are sad to leave my second and Becky's top favourite hostel of the trip. But we've got a flight to catch!

View photos of 'Cotapaxi/ While I Blister On The Bum' here