After couple warm days in Quito, doing laundry and regrouping, we headed to Cotopaxi National Park, south of Quito. Cotopaxi is the second-highest peak in the country with a height of 5,897 m. This makes it one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.

To get there we drove a country road, which got close to 4x4 track as we approached the north gate of the park.

We found a beautiful campsite, nestled in growth of pine with small park facilities nearby. At this altitude it is much harder to move with full body energy, breathing becomes labored and what I found interesting is a loss of appetite.

Never the less it did not stop me from painting as we explored the park. The view of the volcano finally emerged from the clouds and mist and we were treated to the most amazing view. With feeling of excitement, we hiked a well know trail to the base camp of Cotopaxi at 5000 m. There is mountain hut were climbers acclimatize to the altitude to make their final push for the summit. The hike was a very slow going but we reached the hut around 12pm. It was a spectacular view of mountains and valleys below with glaciers and snowfields above.

But unfortunately, once we got back to 4000 m and I started to paint the altitude sickens kicked in. The headache and nausea became horrible. I just had barely enough energy to pack up as I was unable to finish my painting, which is extremely unusual for me. We managed to eat some potato soup to replenish our carbohydrates, then we fell into uneasy sleep in our tent.

Morning proved to be better and it was time to leave the park and continue on our adventure. But as always nothing is straightforward forward in South America. There is ongoing strike of indigenous people across the country and many major arteries such as PanaAmericana was blockaded by hundreds of people. As we tried to leave the park by different entrance to continue our journey south, we were caught in erupting blockades on all secondary roads. We met hundreds of locals riding dirt bikes brandishing steel pipes and using bulldozers to dig up trenches across the roads. After ending up driving 4x4 dirt tracks we decided to return to the park and follow the same route as we came in. It took us back to outskirts of Quito, where there were some more blockades and we were forced to drive north and around Quito to make our way to the coast.

Notes from the Field: Cotopaxi National Park and erupting national strike.