Ecuador: Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi National Park is 50 miles south of Quito. We stayed at a wonderful hacienda in the area that contains some original Inca empire walls. We also took a day trip into the park and a short hike.
Cotopaxi National Park is 50 miles south of Quito. We stayed at a wonderful hacienda in the area that contains some original Inca empire walls. We also took a day trip into the park and a short hike.
Since we last wrote, we left the hacienda north of Quito on Wednesday and made our way to Cotopaxi National Park about 50 miles south of Quito. We hired a driver to take us between the two destinations, which included a stop at the equator itself, about 15 miles north of Quito.
Sandy and I are now flying at 37,000 feet and have we have just crossed the coast of Africa between the border of Tunisia and Libya. The turquoise water is in stark contrast with the desert city of Tripoli.
Sandy and I are currently at Ishasha Bush Camp in Queen Elizabeth National Park, just a few minutes from Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The camp is perched on the Ntungwe River which is fast moving and deep brown in color.
There is no electrical grid in Buhoma – the name of the settlement that includes the buildings both inside and outside of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. It took 180km (111 miles) of poor dirt roads to get here and the nearest paved road is 85km (53 miles) away. Our purpose for coming to Buhoma was to see the mountain gorillas in the wild.
We spent three days in the Denali National Park area, including stays at two different lodges. The highlight of this time was a bus tour on the only paved road inside the park.
We took the train to the Pacific Ocean, at Whittier, and boarded the cruise ship to continue our journey. The first stop was a day cruise in Glacier Bay National Park, which was spectacular!
As we continued towards Vancouver on the cruise, we sailed through Alaska’s Inside Passage and stopped at three well-known cities: Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan.
Our visit to the north portion of Death Valley National Park included a tour of the historic Scotty’s Castle and a 4×4 drive to Eureka Dunes. We enjoyed the solitude and beauty of the sand dunes as we explored them and camped there at night.
The last portion of the trip to Death Valley was spent in some of the most remote parts of the national park. We visited The Racetrack, exploring the rocks that move across the dry lake bed. After a beautiful drive through Hidden Valley, we spent the night on Hunter Mountain.