I just got back form a hike at Iliniza Norte(Google Earth). A hike that was supposed to be moderately easy and ended up totally kicking my ass. It was a pretty fun day, I went with my neighbors Jen and Sam. We left our building around 5:30 Am and took a cab to the Bus Terminal. Here we bough some yogurt, chips, and gatorade and hopped on the bus.
As usual, it took a while to get out of town, because we were picking people up the entire time. The guy calling out our destination was very motivated and I loved his constant yelling. The bus dropped us off on at a very small group of house along the main road, where we caught a second Bus to El Chaupi. Chaupi is the town at the base of the mountain. When we got there we had to head to a hostel and hire a truck to take us to the main trail.
It was a great day out of Quito, though the hike sucked for me. We hiked for a couple of hours, and I got a very terrible cramp in the back of my thigh. It made hiking up a steep sand ridge feel like torture. One of the neatest moments (and coldest) was standing in a pass that was consumed by a cloud. The winds were very strong so you could feel the cloud blowing all around you.