From Santa Rita to Los Mortiños: A Trek Between Haciendas

April 29, 2025

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I woke up around midnight, exited the tent, walked the path to the bathroom, and found, on the way, a cloudless sky covered by millions of stars. When I returned to the tent, it was almost impossible to fall asleep again. The rest of the night was miserable. It was partially because of the cold, and also due to my concerns and worries about deciding which equipment was best to take to the summit attack. On one hand, we have our sleeping bags that fit well in the backpacks but seem thin to protect us from the cold of the night, as I felt it was happening to me at that very moment; on the other hand, there were the 3 sleeping bags that Javier lends us, which seem warm enough but were too bulky to fit in the backpacks we brought. Additionally, it should be considered that on the day of the ascent, we will sleep in a shelter, not in a tent. Will the walls and roof of the shelter compensate for the additional cold from the higher altitude of the shelter?

At 6:10 am, we heard Marcela and Rodrigo talking in their tent. We picked up the sleeping bags, deflated and stored the mats and pillows, and packed the backpacks. At 7 am, we were at the table having breakfast, a kind of porridge, similar to what they served us in Kilimanjaro, but whiter (I remember the African one as more gray), followed by hard-boiled eggs with bacon. At 8:40 am, 40 minutes later than agreed, we got into the car. The boots and socks were still wet; they didn't dry completely during the night.

15 minutes later, at 8:45 am, Ciro dropped us off at a roadside stop, where we would begin to walk along the bank of the Pita River towards Hacienda Los Mortiños. Upon mounting our backpacks, we discovered that the trekking poles were left behind in Santa Rita’s camp site.

We started walking at 9:53 am and saw, for the first time, the Cotopaxi. It was just for a few minutes, but the sight of the mountain was impressive, immense, and intimidating. We walked along the right side of the Pita River, first in the sun for about half an hour, then under intermittent rain that did not cease until late at night.

The Pita is a river with a good flow, and in the stretch we walked has about 3 or 4 decent falls. Unlike the first hike we did on the Pita, we did not cross it at any point during this walk. We saw a bridge of iron and wooden planks at the beginning of the path, but we left it behind without using it. About two and a half hours after we started the hike, we separated from the river, crossing through a potato plantation, and reached the road. Then we continued walking on the road until we found Hacienda Los Mortiños at half past two in the afternoon.

In total, we walked for 5 and a half hours, and upon arrival, we were welcomed with a special hot tea at the hacienda's restaurant. It was very special because of the combination of spices they used in the preparation. The hacienda is decorated with very good taste; it is a luxurious accommodation that immediately boosted my spirits. As expected, Ciro had already left our gear at the hacienda, including the hiking poles we left behind at Santa Rita. With these poles, I improvised a drying rack in front of the fan in our room to dry the clothes that were soaked again. We put the shoes in the hallway, placed them under the wood-burning fireplace, and left them there all night...

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