OMG, Ecuador’s Cotopaxi Volcano is Breathtakingly Beautiful & Dangerous!

It is difficult writing this because it is just impossible to put into words the breathtaking beauty & danger of Ecuador’s Cotopaxi Volcano really is & photos can’t do it justice! A couple of our Ecuadorian friends invited us for a drive to Cotopaxi wanting to share with us how beautiful it was. The day was cool but sunny & it was a great drive.

A Little Background About Cotopaxi

The Cotopaxi Volcanic mountain sits 51km south of Quito & is among the highest active volcano at just under 6,000m! It’s base width is around 22.5km! Since 2022 it has posed risks of eruptions which in the past have sent ash as far as Quito city. At 5,000m there is a glacier which could lead to mass flooding & erosion on northern settlements of Quito! Just saying, as beautiful to the eye that Cotopaxi is, it can be equally as dangerous.

Cotopaxi’s name is indigenous & means more or less ‘Neck of the Moon’ from its crater shape or even fiery nature? Culturally, Cotopaxi is considered sacred as a rain giver & home to Gods.

The Love Story of the Volcanoes

The Ecuadorians believe the volcanos have personalities as shown in this story told to us. The Cotopaxi volcano is “jealous” of the Rumiñahui mountain stemming from a traditional Quechua legend about the volcanoes of Ecuador.

There are several different versions of the love triangle/legend, but I liked this one the best. A neighboring volcano/mountain Rumiñahui is the one who reveals a secret love affair between Iliniza Sur (south peak) & Cotopaxi, even though she was the wife of Iliniza Norte (north peak). The Tattletale, Rumiñahui mountain discovered the affair & told Iliniza Norte (spouse of Iliniza Sur). The Conflict: This revelation led to conflict among the peaks.

In a different interpretation of this legend, Rumiñahui is seen as a tattletale & Cotopaxi’s “jealousy” is a common way to refer to this folklore. The Rumiñahui mountain itself is named after a loyal Inca general who hid the last Inca emperor Atahualpa’s ransom from the Spanish conquistadors.

As we got nearer to Cotopaxi you can see the clouds are deciding whether to let us take pictures.

There is no one word for the beauty of Cotopaxi! It was simply just Mother Nature at her best!

Our Visit to Cotopaxi Volcano Park!

It is a popular “must hike” for those who get into climbing mountains with snow, ice, lack of oxygen, etc, you get my point? Since we were not in the least prepared to do that level of hiking, we viewed the majestic mountain from the base of the Cotopaxi National Park which elevated around 3700m.

You can get amazing shots of the Cotopaxi from this lagoon at its base if the God’s allow. This is a path along the laguna near Cotopaxi, where you can see the Cotopaxi volcano with many people stopping to take pictures with the enormous snow capped volcano in the background. We walked along the lagoon on the hiking path until dark clouds peeked from behind the mountain, it seemed as if the Cotopaxi volcano was telling everyone it was tired of allowing people to play in its sunshine & the weather suddenly started to change. Sudden weather changes at Cotopaxi can be dangerous & the temperatures can go from warm sunshine to freezing winds, snow & rain in just a few minutes.

Our friends have been to Cotopaxi many times & know the dangers of these sudden weather changes at Cotopaxi. It seemed one minute we were warm & smiling – the next we were heading for the car to get down the road before the clouds let loose & boy did they. Within a few minutes, it was raining ice pellets on us in the midst of rain. it only lasted long enough for us to head back down the mountain when rain stopped, ice stopped & sun was out again. I guess Cotopaxi had had enough of the tourists for one afternoon!