riobamba, chimborazo; ecuador

Volcano Spotting
I left Cuenca early in the morning and got to Riobamba at about 11 am. I was thinking about looking for a place to stay and leave my stuff for a night, and go to the Chimboarzo vulcano from there. But after I had lunch and asked around at bus terminal about the buses, I found out one was leaving in 15 minutes. I decided quickly to take it and just take my backpack with and leave it at the refugee at the volcano.
The bus dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, and when I got off I realized it was freezing. I guess I was pretty high in altitude, and the weather was rather bad. It was foggy, windy and rainy.
I entered the park rangers house and asked a couple of questions before taking off for a walk. 

Unfortunately I didn´t get to see the whole mountain, but I was still very impressed by this huge volcano, Ecuador´s highest peak. The whole landscape seemed as if no life could exist there - cold, dry, the rocky ground spotted by little bushes. Surprisingly I saw some vikunias, and admired them for surviving there. At some moment, when the clouds opened a little I could see mountains over mountains behind me, and the first layer of snow on the Chimborazo in front of me. It was a deserted place, but at the same time I felt the incredibly strong energy of this place.

After a while I returned to the entrance and found out that I could keep going to Baños, my next stop, on the same day without having to spend a night in Riobamba.
But getting there was an adventure - first I waited almost an hour on the side of the road for the bus. Finally it came, full of people sitting until the steps of the entrance door, and soon it already dropped me off again. I felt even more in the middle of nowhere as I had at the volcano, and I had to get off at a crossing, with fog having closed up my sight to about 5 meters. I had no idea how I would be able to see the other bus coming or how it would see me, standing there on the side of the road. Luckily my connecting bus came right at the moment when I got off, and I could relax a little. Still I had one more change in front of me, but this one also went well.
I easily found a bus going to Baños, bought some cheese empanadas, and enjoyed the ride.