Cotopaxi

Today we went by bus the the volcano Cotopaxi. It is active and the last time it erupted I think was in 2004. It is snowcapped so the main problem with an eruption is the quick melting of the snow (causing a massive mudslide), which can reach Quito in about 30 minuets - Quito is about 50 miles away... making it one of the most dangerous volcanoes- not because of the primary eruption, but because people have built houses in the river basins where the mud flows through. It is monitored, but random fast heating can happen. I don't think I am in any danger though since I'm not in any valley.
We measured transects of 10 by 1 meters, counting the number of plant species and recording the tallest plant in each of the transects. We did this about 6 times all the way up the side of the volcano to about 4,500 meters (14,700 feet). At that altitude, there were only about 4 plant species and none were very tall. The base camp was at about 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) and we could see it from where we were, and the glaciers were a bit beyond that. It was snowing/ sleeting where we were- or maybe it was just ice particles blowing off the snow cap. The crater of the volcano was much higher, and we didn't get to see it because it was cloud covered.