Quilotoa: Ecuador Endings

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After an overnight bus ride from Guayquil to Latacunga, we arrived 04:30am. It was rather cold and the hotel we booked was closed until 7am. We curled up at the door step under a sleeping bag and wearing coats using our backpacks as pillow. After about 45 minutes Tommy decided to let Tuppence have the sleeping bag and pace the block instead, keeping close watch all the while. Thankfully at 6:30am the owner came out for a morning bike ride, upon seeing Tuppence curled up, he immediately invited us in organised our room and arranged breakfast to be ready at 8:00am giving us time to nap.

Latacunga is a rather unremarkable city, still we both enjoyed wandering around the markets and parks. It is rather interesting to observe how people of different cultures live, despite the differences the core is always the same (food, shelter, family, friends, love). As we wandered around Tuppence noticed many rather scary looking dolls, a bit like scarecrows wearing masks of all kinds. Some looked astoundingly human and seemed almost to glare accusingly at us as we passed by. We thought that perhaps they were related to a festival as people had tied them to the front of their cars, and outside their shops and homes. We suddenly realised that tomorrow was New Years Eve, and decided that this must be their purpose. Later we found out they burn the dolls as part of the new years celebration.



The next day we took a local bus to the small town Saqsilli which holds a Sunday market across 8 or more town plazas. Like a department store each plaza has different wares on sale. Including tools, fish, meat, vegetables, animals, grains, clothing and cloth. The plazas are scattered around town and it was interesting to watch the locals commute between them becoming increasingly laden with various goods as the day progressed. This market was very different to Otavalo, as they were more traditional and not a craft market. The markets gave us a little window into the homes of the locals. After some time wandering the town with our packs becoming heavier we began our search for a bus. Initally thinking that we would have to return to Latacunga however after following the advice of a friendly local we were able to successfully find and catch a bus onward to Chugchilan a tiny town along the Quilotoa loop.

It was a rather interesting bus ride for several reasons firstly it would appear the custom on new years eve is for people to dress up in masks and block the road with rope, granting passage for a small fee or gift. Sometimes they would perform with music or comical theatre. Secondly, after about 2 hours of travel just as a group of cows wandered down the wrong side of the road the bus made a funny noise and stopped. Our first bus breakdown in our entire adventure. We sat in the bus and waited. Tommy wondered several times whether or not to get out of the bus in order to help with getting us moving again however resisted the urge possibly recognising that they probably had more experience in managing breakdowns. As the cows wandered down the road, out of sight the bus started up again and our journey resumed.



We arrived in Chugchilan at about 2pm the bus kindly dropping us right outside the door to our chosen hostel (Cloud Forest) . We were greeted warmly by the owner who gave us a comfortable room for $15 US each which included breakfast and what turned out to be an outstanding dinner. As we would be leaving early in the morning to catch the bus to Quilotoa he arranged a packed breakfast for us.

After a short rest we made our way to the town where we had been assured a festival would be happening. We found a marching band, some people dressed in masks making mischief and a bull fight. This bull fight was completely different to those of Spain. The owners of the bulls kept a close watch on their bulls to ensure they were not hurt, and when they observed the bull to be tired they lasooed it and returned it to the truck and replaced it with a new one. The bull fighters, were more bull taunters, they would run into the ring, wave some cloth and once the bull charged would run and jump out of the ring, or climb a pole in the centre, to the sound of laughing spectators. At times their expressions were quite comical and there were several near misses on the bulls part. We were happy to see that not a single bull was maimed throughout the entire festival. The last bull was a lot younger than the others and was thus smaller, he made up for it with his attitude. As this bull was smaller some children were allowed to join the fun, and the bull fighters actually stayed in the ring and allowed the bull to run through the cloth. The bull (whose enthusiasm for charging may have been underestimated by some), managed a small victory and bowled over one of the taunters.... our hotel owner who after the initial surprise of being bested by such a small bull jumped to his feet laughing, only slightly bruised.

Tommy was enthusiastically invited to join in the dancing with the merry mischief makers dressed in masks. Leaping, laughing and joining the playful imitations of the bull fighters Tommy seemed completely at home with these merry makers. She danced on and on until eventually she became too tired. The merry makers however, seemingly full of endless energy (possibly due to the consumption of large quantities of home made ¨beer¨) decided to take their frivolities on tour around the town ending on the church stairs where they performed a comic play involving a bull, a man in drag and a scarecrow clown. Once the music ended and the people wandered home, Tommy and Tuppence returned to their hostal to find a delicious dinner which included fruit filled, chocolate drizzeled pancakes for dessert. A red wine was offered, but a hot chocolate was accepted instead. It was an unexpected, thoroughly lovely gesture for the hostal to provide a special new years dinner for everyone and a great way to see in the new year.



New Years Day began early for us, waking up at 5am to catch a bus that meant that we arrived in Quilotoa at around 7:30am. Long before the town had even opened an eyelid. We managed to find a hostal near to the entrance of the Quilotoa Crater lake path. After checking in we took water and our packed breakfast and set off for a hike around the Quilotoa Crater Lake. Very quickly Tuppence realised that she had underestimated exactly what the word hike meant in this context. The Quilotoa crater lake path is an intense trek of some 20km (according to Tommy´s Galaxy S5) that climbs to an altitude of 3930m. The trek involved scrambling, climbing and fights with strong winds at times it seemed that the path completely disappeared and we were faced with tumbling rocks on sandy slopes. Tommy and Tuppence stood brave in the face of being blown off the ¨path¨into the crater several times. The thing about hiking around Volcanoes is that the ¨path¨in addition to occasionally disappearing is also very deceptive. We stopped at least three times and said to one another ¨halfway there not long to go¨ but were wrong. The folds of ancient lava made the trek seem endless, particularly after we reached the summit. The views were spectacular, and can not be captured with a photo. The turquoiseblue of the water far below us shifted and changed colors as shadows moved across the lake, trees and shrubs in a rich variety of greens tumbled down below us and volcanic rocks of grey, black and brown made twisted formations at every step. With the sun glaring and the wind screaming we felt very much like explorers as we reached the summit of the crater and stopped breathless admiring the panorama that stretched all around us. The Illineza (twin mountains) in the distance and Cotopaxi occasionally peeking out from behind the clouds. The final kilometres of the trek were the hardest, more because of exhaustion than anything else however we made it safely back to Quilotoa. Tuppence bearing a proud smile having now successfully climbed her first mountain summit. Elated we returned to our hotel where hot showers soothed exhausted muscles. We spent another day in Quilotoa resting, painting and further admiring the scenery. Quilotoa was the spectacular finale to our adventures in Ecuador. It was with bittersweet anticipation that we began what would be a 4 night long bus extravaganza into Arequipa Peru. Ecuador was a place full of unimaginable natural beauty and quietly kind people (outside heavily touristic regions!) We were sad to leave but were excited about the new wonders that Peru would present to us.

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