Latacunga

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Back across the equator from Otavalo and deep deep deep into the southern hemisphere (about 80 klms) to Latacunga (avoiding one more robbery attempt enroute). Arriving in Latacunga on a Sunday afternoon and one adjective springs to mind - DEAD. The town isn´t the most attractive in Latin America, plus you could fire off an AK47 in all directions on a Sunday arvo and not cause any human damage. So why come here? Latacunga is strategically central for a number of excursions.

1. Cotopaxi
We were hitched up with 2 very eccentric retired English ladies for a hike up to a refuge at 5000 mtrs which acts as a base for assaults on the summit on Cotopaxi (a perfectly conical snow clad volcano) at 6000 mtrs. Look up ´anal´in your Oxford and there are these 2 women.
´Is this 1sq cm rock volcanic, because it looks like pumice blended with basalt´
´Is this little yellow flower native to Ecuador?´ - LADY, back home we call them wet-the-beds, it´s a damn weed.
The last 500 vertical metres were an endurance test. Visibility down as low as 20mtrs, sleet, snow and a howling wind, up through volcanic ash, rocks, ice and snow. On reaching the refuge, we pulled out our list of must do things before we die, and drew a big red line through Everest. Even at 6000 metres the summit of Cotopaxi involves leaving the refuge at 1am for a 7 hour slog to the top. Coming down from the refuge, however, was fun. What took 1 hour to go up, was a ten minute joy ride back down, sliding on snow and ploughing through volcanic ash. Let gravity be thy co-pilot.

2. Quilatoa
The next couple of days were spent gazing into the water filled volcanic crater of Quilatoa and then an extremely scenic 4 hour trek to the village of Chugchilan. Horse riding was also on the agenda to a cloud forest. The micro climates are incredible. From sun (at last some blue sky) and wind, 3 lineal klms later and you´re plunging on horse back into something akin to an Amazonian rain forest. I´ve also developed a new found respect for jockeys. How do you make a horse giddyup or whoa when that horse doesn´t wanna giddyup of whoa? We shared these couple of days with a fantastic Italian couple and Luigi in particular had some trouble with his sturdy mount (unlike Penny´s 20 year old Pinto), careering off into the wild blue yonder pleading with the beast in italian to stop. I guess these horses just don´t understand English or Italian.

3. Saquisili (pronounced Sucky Silly - and yes I know there are an array of corny puns available on that one - but where´s the challenge).
It is home to another lively indiginous market, something similar to Otavalo but much more on the rustic side i.e less catering for the tourist $. Lots of fun, but while I like to think I´ll have a crack at most things the culinary world has to offer, I´m still struggling with the idea of guinea pig stew for breakfast.

Gary and Penny

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