Climbing Cotopaxi: Ecuador's Ultimate Adventure

I'm approaching the summit of Cotopaxi, over 19,000 feet. Not a whole lot of oxygen up here. I don't know if I'm gonna make it. Okay, but I actually climbed Cotopaxi. That's what this video's about. Cotopaxi Volcano is the second highest point in Ecuador and a place everyone needs to see in their lifetime. I'm gonna show y'all how to have the best experience possible here and tell you about my journey to the top. So we just got out here to Cotopaxi. This is a hostel called the Secret Garden Cotopaxi and this is seriously one of the coolest hostels I've ever stayed at. It's barely even a hostel. It feels more like. Summer camp. Yeah, it feels more like a summer camp, you know? For real though, Secret Garden's the way to go when you're at Cotopaxi. You'll meet tons of cool, like-minded travelers from all over the world and they have connections to all the best local activities so you can pack as much action as possible into each day. Also, this place has one of the best views out there of Cotopaxi, so if you're a photographer like me or just like looking at pretty mountains, it's a win. Y'all aren't gonna believe this. I was at this hostel at Cotopaxi and I met freakin' Macklemore. What's up, fam? You ready to pop some tags out here in Ecuador? What, what? I'm worried about this net. I think it can't hold us. And in addition to making friends with discount brand Macklemore, I made friends with this group of girls from the Midwest and Dr. Sam, a cardiologist from Saudi Arabia who was a total goofball. You'll be seeing plenty of him. That brings us to the first adventure of this trip, which is a hike to a nearby waterfall. It is a very rainy, rainy day for a waterfall hike. Finally made it to the waterfall. One thing about the Andes that's super dope is how diverse it is here. One day you can be swimming in the jungle and the next you can be on top of a mountain. It's wild. Ma'am, I need a good explanation as to why you didn't get in the water. I would have to be naked. And I'm trying to be the king of the jungle sometimes. One of my favorite things about Cotopaxi is that there's llamas because they look so ugly yet they're so cute. We're headed out to go feed the llamas. I got my banana bucket. But they eat banana peels. They are coming down hot. I'm the lady in the trampet, ready? Save the drama for your llama. So today we're headed to the Cotopaxi volcano. We're gonna hike up to base camp on a glacier. I know we're gonna ride mountain bikes down. I have high hopes for today. I'm very much aroused. Okay. This hike was gonna start getting me acclimated for the climb because even the base camp is like so high. I mean, I was expecting to find Snoop Dogg up there. We're going up there into the clouds. So the end point of where we're going is the base camp for Cotopaxi and there's allegedly hot chocolate. That chocolate's gonna be so good. I made it. We did it. 15,900 feet. That is higher than the highest point in the continental US. Who would have thought a bunch of silly geese could climb such a big mountain? We're not in the pond no more. Cheers. I pooped on Cotopaxi. I did not. It's just not the day, man. The bowels aren't ready. Literally one of the nicest people I have ever met. Thanks, bro. This is Saudi Arabia right here. This road is super steep, super crazy. I can't wait. Let's go. That's it. Go people. Hannah, are you okay? I'm still a lot of to come, a lot of to show. Guess what? I got the whole thing recorded. Cycling down Cotopaxi is an item that I never thought I needed on my bucket list. That angle looks great on you. Hey, thanks, bro. All right, fam. Bada bing, bada boom on three. Bada bing, bada boom, yeah. It was almost time for me to begin my journey up Cotopaxi, but before I left, I had one more piece of business to take care of because I'm from cowboy country. Today's deal is horseback riding. These city slickers ain't been on no horse, so we're gonna yee some haws and yippee some kayays. Show them how us cowboys do it in Wyoming. Come on, yip, yip, yip. Giddy, giddy, yip, yip, giddy. Are you a rootin' tootin' cowboy? There's no more hiding from it behind cheesy Western music. It's time to face my fears and climb Cotopaxi once and for all. This is Nyato, a local legend, and he was gonna be my guide for Cotopaxi. Quintas veces. Quintas. Quintas veces, el de Toch. Muchos años. Tres, 35 años de experiencia en la montaña. Hombre muerte. This is a man who is afraid of nothing. Monsters check under their beds for Nyato. We're just starting out here in the parking lot, and it is such a cold day. Do you realize how cold it has to be for me to change out of my shorts? We started off by hiking to the base camp that I had been to a few days before, but this time, we'd just be getting a little bit of rest and then setting off for the summit before midnight. Sick. While at the refuge, we get to stay in this big old dorm room, our whole squad. Top bunk. Gotta get the top bunk. So up here at the refuge, they have coca tea. Definitely want to pick up some of that. The leaves help a ton with the altitude. ¿Qué es por cena? Vegetarianos para que aprendan a comer monkey y anaconda. Wow, what a silly goose. So if you're going with a guide, most of the time it's gonna include free drinks and lunch slash dinner, whatever. Good value. So there's all these flags hanging up all over here in the lodge, and after you summit, you're supposed to sign your country's flag. Gonna sign this guy tomorrow. Gotta finish the summit first. El anoche, el anoche, once, once, doce caminamos. All right, so it's just a little bit past six, and we're getting ready to go to bed because we have to wake up at 11 and be on the mountain at midnight. You're looking snug as a bug. 11 p.m., Cotopaxi time. Look at this. It's so bloated because of the altitude. I'm feeling like 10 bucks. Cumbre o muerte. Just like that, we set off into the night for what would be my hardest climb yet and literally the only time in my life I've ever experienced altitude sickness. For real, I grew up at 7,200 feet. Getting cramp on time. Getting into some ice now. Feeling pretty good. It's so windy up here. You can see Quito out there in the distance. Hard doing this without a face mask. I'm feeling good. Yeah, a little bit cold, as you said. Without a face mask or like a buff, it's very cold around your face. Climbing six hours through the night takes a whole different level of mental toughness, but we persevered. Snow problem. Ice to meet ya. That was hilarious. This is already one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen. Whoa. Look at that. We made it, man. What the ****? That's it. This is absolutely bonkers up here. I can't even talk, my face is still frozen. What does a llama sound like? Brrrrk. Something like that. A crocodile will see you in a while and an alligator will see you later. Hashtag Samito Biciclito. Yeah. Wait, what's up there? Back where I come from, we call those birds. That's it, that's the whole thing. I didn't get that. What even was that?