Head in the Clouds

Today was our last day of freedom before classes officially start for the semester.  We took advantage of that and took the bus from the station near USFQ to the Rio Coca station in Quito.  We then took a taxi (with a nice Ecuadorian man negotiating the price for us) to the teleferico at the base of the Pichincha volcano.  The cable cars take you about 13,400 feet up the volcano, where it feels like you can almost touch the sky.  We got up there and then hiked up a trail that goes even higher up the side of Pichincha.  Eventually, four of us got waylaid by a bunch of horses while the others continued up the trail.  We discovered that it only cost $10 to take a ride, so we forked over the money and went horseback riding up the volcano.  We rode until we could clearly see Ruca Pichincha, the oldest of the three craters of the volcano.  It was one of those unexpected surprises that make a day fantastic! 
After sadly saying good-bye to the horses, we continued up the trail a bit.  Then, the clouds moved in, covering parts of the trail in front of us and also behind us.  It was incredible walking through them and watching them swirl around you.  Then, as happens so often in the afternoons here, it started to rain (apparently it hailed farther up the trail).  As we listened to the steadily approaching thunder, we decided that rather than continuing upward and risking being struck by lightening we would go back down to the teleferico.  Everyone made it back safely and we rode the cable cars back down to Quito altitude.  Finally, the ten of us took a van back to Cumbaya and somehow scrounged together enough money to buy lunch (it's difficult when you are told not to carry much money but have no clue how much you'll spend each day).