| Quito City tour | Otavalo |

5897 meters

Just south of Quito towers the highest active volcano of the world. The Cotopaxi is surrounded of its National Park, home to abundant plant life, a rich fauna and Inca ruins.

Leaving Quito on the Panamericana South we reach the Park entrance and begin our visit at the natural history museum before continuing up Cotopaxi. We ascend the mountain as high as possible to the parking lot on 4500 meters. From here a short 45-minute walk takes us up to the refugee.

Coming down again from the "refugio" we drive across the páramo to the Limpiopungo lake.On a short walk around the lake we can observe a variety of birds and enjoy the stunning views of the surrounding landscape.

Going on we visit El Salitre, an ancient Inca fort, a small glimpse of Ecuador's pre-Colonial past.

We arrive back to Quito in the late afternoon.