Baños to Quito through Latacunga, Quilotoa and Cotopaxi

We are finally on the move again...

21.08.2007 - 24.08.2007 15 °C

We met in Baños last Saturday and spent three nights there. Baños has a micro-climate which sees lots of rain throughout June, July and August, and we got no exception. So we didn't do much, we just hung around town, checked out every single souvenir shop (there are tons), ate and slept a lot. On Tuesday we went to Quilotoa, which is a remote indigenous village in the highlands with a beautiful laguna in a volcano crater. The place is at 3,900 m and is incredibly COLD. They tell you it is cold, but you don't expect it that bad. The village - 120 people - is tiny and very basic. We first ended up in Hostal Chosita, which is super basic. Earth floor, 'dormitory only', bathroom outside and no running water, pretty daunting! We put our bags down, thinking that the poor family needed the money. Then out of curiosity we walked into the hostel next door (Princesa Loa) and it was such a difference!! Concrete floor, own bedroom, bathroom INSIDE the building, and clean!! Well, the bedding hadn't been changed in a while, but miles more clean than the Chosita place. When I checked the bed at Chosita I found an ancient piece of mouldy bread under the pillow!!!! The problem is that there is no water in Quilotoa, so as a result they tend to wash things very little. Food hygiene is also a concern. They all charge $8 for bed and half board, regardless of the comfort. The Cabañas Quilotoa, which have running water and I think change their bedding with every guest, charge the same! Anyways, we felt good to stay at the Princesa Loa because this is a community-owned hostel and so the whole community benefits. A bit weird because in a village of 20 houses or so, about 6 or 7 offer accomodation, so we are not sure about the role of this community-owned place, but whatever! The lake and the views are really worth the trip and the cold, though staying in the village is a bit of an experience. There are also very few buses connecting the villages, so we decided to give up our plan for a clockwise circuit of the area and go back the same way we came. We manage to self-invite ourselves to join a group of bikers on a tour from Quito and went back to Latacunga in a jeep at a very slow pace following the bikers, which gave us the opportunity 1) to spare ourselves a squashed journey in the bus 2) take lots of pictures of the beautiful mountain scenery. We then spent the night in Latacunga and booked a tour to the famous Saquisili' Thursday market and Cotopaxi volcano.

Both the market and the Cotopaxi were excellent. The market is famous particularly for the animal trading that take place, which is not something that one sees every day. The local indigenas bring their cows, pigs, lamas, sheep, chickens, guinea pigs, cats and rabbits for sale. There are different areas, one for the animals, one for the pets, one for the fruit, one for the artesania, one for clothes, etc.
We went with a couple from Slovenia, two really young people who turned out to be very nice company, Katerina and Peter. They wanted to go to the south side of Cotopaxi, while we wanted to go to the north. The agency messed up and put us together for the tour but we wanted different things... In the end we went to the north part, the one we wanted, and I think that by the end of the day we were all very pleased we did, because the trip was really nice. Cotopaxi is really easy to trek: it's a peak of 5,800 m and you can get to 5,000 without even a walking stick! The jeep takes you up to 4,500 m, from there you walk for 45 minutes up to the refuge at 4,800 and then from there you can go higher. I think we went to about 5,000, then the slope was too sandy to continue, and I guess the air too thin!! People can go up to the crater with crampons in two days. It was sunny and we had a great day.

We are now in Quito, we have spent the day sorting out our bus to Caracas for the 9th of September - 58 hours on the bus! - as well as a trip to Cuyabeno, in the Amazon jungle, for September 3rd.
Quito seems quite pleasant and very easy to navigate. We could not resist the artesania and ended up buying a beautiful huge alpaca rug. In the shop we met 3 Indian girls who are studying dentistry at Kings College (my college!) and we ended up walking together to an artesania fair. There, not happy to have bought the biggest rug ever, we bought even more stuff, it is just impossible to resist! Ecuador has some fabulous handicrafts to offer at really ridiculous prices, it is crazy.

Tomorrow we are off to Papallacta for thermal springs and then Mindo and Otavalo for river tubing and more handicrafts shopping...

Quilotoa crater right hand side...