Once again we're loading up the Land Cruiser and cramming ourselves into its too small bench seats. We're headed further south this time, towards Cotopaxi, the second highest volcano in Ecuador. But we're got one more rest day to spend before reaching the hut.

We pull up to Tierra del Volcan (Volcano Lands): part guest ranch and part working ranch. A horse stable sits to the right of the main building, which we park in front of and begin to unload. Inside we find a relaxing front room, with views out across the high plains and soft couches next to the fireplace.

While waiting for lunch, we take advantage of the cozy surroundings and listen while a beautiful ranch hand describes the ranch and another owned by the same family. We're offered an apple tea spiced with sugar cane alcohol. For a mountaineering trip, this has been pretty posh so far.

After lunch Bob, Scott, Steve, Charles and I played "City Slickers" and tried on the burly chaps and wool ponchos for a three-hour horse ride over the ranch. We were given an introduction to our horses, which didnŐt include their names. Scott's wild horse became "El Diablo" and I named mine "Che" after all the "Che Guevara" t-shirts we'd seen all over Ecuador.

After taking us out of the pastures near the ranch houses, Bob translated our guide's instructions.

"This is important. If one of the cows or bulls start to chase you, turn your horse uphill and try to outrun it."

Wonderful. The last time I was on a horse I couldn't even make it follow the horses in the lead or the trail. We were also advised to try hitting the cow or bull with our hats to drive it off. Failing that, we should use our ponchos.

As we rode over the hills we only saw a few cows far away from us. The ranch dogs that followed us seemed to help drive them away. We had views of the surrounding un- glaciated volcanoes and Cotopaxi, whose upper snowfields were shrouded in clouds.

Numerous wildflowers dotted the ground, including many I recognized from trekking in Peru.

Returning to the ranch house we had a wonderful dinner and once again set about re- packing for our trip to Cotopaxi. Unlike Cayambe we would need to hike a short distance with all our gear from the end of the road to the hut.

Before going to sleep we walked outside and braving the wind we picked out star constellations and noticed that Cotopaxi had shaken off the afternoon cloud buildup and was glowing from the moonlight. Orion was out and located directly above us.