With no one to drink with on St Paddy’s Day, I opted for a quiet one instead and got things organised for the climb, visiting the Indian market to get some supplies. I also had an early start the the next day as I’d managed to organise a lift through the tour company, rather than take the bus after hearing Dan’s story of having his bag slashed on the way to Baños. It was still dark out when I left the hostel to meet my ride, and even though it was only a few blocks I decided to catch a cab there. Quito still felt the sketchiest place we’d visited.

Along with a group of 4 others who were hiking the Quilotoa Loop, we piled into a beat up old rusted forby painted in garish jungle colours, for the journey to the Hosteria Papagayo. I was unlucky enough to be squished into the back seat, where the exhaust fumes came close to overwhelming me, and I was positioned where the lack of suspension was most prevalently felt. As I sat there choking on the fumes, I managed to crack a smile at the sight of the crumpled car freshner hanging from the rearview mirror with the title “new car scent”.

We wound our way up above the fog shrouded mass of Quito and through the poor outer districts on the way to Papagayo which was at a considerably higher altitude at around 3100 metres. The hostel is a serene 150 year old farmhouse set in the picturesque avenue of the volcanoes, and after checking into my modest but comfortable room, I spent a relaxing day hiking in the hills and surrounding farmland trying to work up some last minute acclimatisation. The grounds around the hostel were littered with six or more cute little labrador puppies and a handful of other dogs, two of which followed me on my daytime trek. Two may have followed but only one came back, after one ran after some farm dogs along the way. I felt a bit guilty about losing him but he would return a few days later none worse for wear.

We got all our climbing gear sorted in the early evening and with the big climb on the next day I took things pretty easy and headed for bed early. Following the climb though, I would stay another night at the hostel and manage to find an eclectic mix of Israelis, Germans, Aussies and Swiss, to share a few beers with, though we didn’t quite kick things off enough to get the party going and take advantage of the wooden outdoor “Disco”.