Journey To Cajas
Awakening to the sound of my alarm, the sunlight peeking through the window coaxed me out of bed. Up and ready, I did a final look around the room to make sure I didn’t forget anything and then hurried on down the hallway to the lobby restaurant to fuel up for the big day out. I wasn’t about to pass up on a third day of all you can eat breakfast, especially before a hike through the Andes!
After breakfast, I headed to the hotel lobby to await my ride out to Cajas National Park. As I waited, I noticed the streets were exceptionally busy for this early in the day. Though soon enough, a car pulled up and out stepped a man who greeted me with a friendly smile and a firm handshake. Thinking to myself “When did hiking get to be so formal?!”, I hopped in the car and off we went! The man introduced himself as Sebastian, born and raised in the good old state of Pennsylvania! He mentioned he doesn’t get a lot of American tourists so it would be a good break from the constant Spanish. I wasn’t going to complain. After some lighthearted conversation and letting him know Pennsylvania hasn’t changed much in the past 20 years, we approached the entrance to Cajas National Park. The 45min drive out was smooth, winding upward through the highland roads. At the visitor center, Sebastian informed me the other guests for the hike had cancelled so I would be getting a personal tour. And with that, we began our trek!
Lake Trek
From the visitor center, we would make our way north towards Lake Toreadora, one of the jewels of Cajas sitting at 13,000ft! For all that I had heard about altitude sickness and hiking around in the thinner air, I didn’t really notice much difference from my usual hikes back home. Perhaps having spent the past few days chilling in Cuenca at 8,000ft was enough to acclimate me. We began our 3mi expedition from the trailhead map posted nearby.
As we approached the lake, the trail turned from a rocky path to a wet marshy traverse. Sebastian was extremely knowledgeable about the entire region, giving tidbits of information on everything from the geography and weather patterns to the local flora and fauna. He pointed out several different plants but most notably the Chuquiragua, Ecuador’s National Flower. At one point we even came across a rock that had been impacted by a meteorite back in 1995!
After circling the lake, we made a quick pit stop at the visitor center before heading back down to Cuenca. At the hotel, Sebastian opened my door, grabbed my bags from the trunk, and gave me a firm hand shake noting I was a wonderful tourist and he would gladly drive me around again should I ever find myself back in Cuenca. As Sebastian drove off my legs immediately turned to jello and nearly buckled from underneath me. Luckily I was able to grab my hefty suitcase to catch my fall. The 3hr hike seemed to have taken more of a toll than I had anticipated. I had enough time to do one final check of my belongings before grabbing a taxi to the airport. My flight wasn’t until 7:42pm, but I’ve always been an early arriver when it comes to airports. Maybe too early this time…
Airport Observations
I rolled up to the Cuenca airport about 5hrs before my flight. Too early even for the baggage check, so I camped myself down in the food court people watching until the hunger kicked in. A double burger and a “real” sprite with cane sugar (the way it was meant to be) hit the spot as I kept an eye on the people meandering about. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. People watching in Ecuador didn’t seem to be as interesting as back home in the States.
The counters opened a few hours later, so I made my way over to check my bag and headed through security. I thought the long day was settling down but not too long after I found a seat at the gate, I heard my name over the loudspeaker and was approached by security. They informed that my bag had been flagged and needed to pull me aside to ask some questions. Two armed security officers walked me out onto the tarmac past a few docked planes and into a small room nestled away from the main building. What kind of trouble was I in?! Had I not been wiped out by the intense hike from earlier, my mind probably would’ve been racing with concern but instead I felt mostly relaxed. They had me open my bag and with my minimal understanding of Spanish I was able to understand there were two objects they needed to inspect. I knew immediately what they were looking for and any lingering concerns I had in my head immediately dissipated. I grabbed the two open liquor bottles and handed them to one of the officers. They put the bottles in a machine a few moments later handed them back motioning for me to repack them and close my bag. They pointed me back to my gate and I walked across the dimly lit tarmac unescorted.
I sat at the gate for another hour before boarding my quick flight from Cuenca to Quito. After the flight, as I stood up from my seat, I noticed at least half the seats were unoccupied. It was so quiet I hadn’t realized how empty the plane was. Back in Quito with time to kill before my connecting flight, I wandered over to Johnny Rockets for round two of burgers (don’t judge me) and a milkshake. Airports are weirdly timeless, and hunger tends to strike again when you least expect it.
Then, chaos struck. Just before midnight, as I was chilling on a bench at the airport entrance awaiting my gate designation, I saw the large red text show up next my flight “Flight Cancelled”. Internally I was freaking out, but my outwards composure remained calm. Just as I was about to go flag down an agent to try and sort out this mess with my limited Spanish comprehension, I received a text from the airline with a notice of a reroute from San Salvador to Bogota. My new arrival time into Costa Rica would be 3:45pm the next day, 8hrs delayed from the initial arrival.
Despite the hiccups, today was unforgettable—from the crisp mountain air of Cajas to the last-minute scramble in Quito. Sometimes the best stories come from the unexpected turns, and this one definitely earned its place in the travel journal!
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