Today we biked around Cotopaxi, the second highest peak in Ecuador and one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world. We met the guides at 7:00 at a local coffee shop, picked up a few other tourists and drove for an hour and a half. The driving distance was not that far, but it takes forever to navigate the winding roads and the insane traffic. We stopped at the base of the volcano. The guides gave us each a bike, a helmet and a meeting point about 7km away. The top section was very steep and bumpy. I had a great time going as fast as possible down the hills while barely maintaining control of the bike. Luckily, if I fell I would have only hit rocks and tumbled off the mountain. The road got much less steep after the first meeting point. I had to pedal hard to keep up my speed. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful lake near the base of the mountain. The remaining 12km were mainly uphill (we had to push the bikes) and through shallow streams. Tomorrow we will leave Ecuador, but there is so much to see here that I will have to return. Next time I want to visit the Galapagos islands and the Amazon jungle.