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Published: December 29th 2010
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After a week on The Quilatoa Loop in the high country we have dropped down about 6000 ft. to the warmth of Banos. We spent four nights with a Quichua family in a hostal that included breakfast & dinner for everyone in a commons area. We were in a small village called Quilatoa that is famous for the Lago de Quilatoa, a collapsed volcano that the locals call bottomless, but geologist say is 250 meters deep. It is a beautiful blue green in color with steep hills around it and at an elevation of about 12,800 ft. One day we hiked all the way around the crater, and huffed and puffed our way up the steep hills. It was about a 5 1/2 hour hike that Lonely Planet said a fit person could make in 6 hours. Since we did it in 5 1/2 it was quite reassuring to know that at least by LP standards we are fit. On another day we took a trail that I'm sure is not frequented by gringos, judging by the surprise of the local farmers and ranchers to see us out on the trail. They were all very friendly to us and wanted to
know where we are from. Alaska always gets the same response: Muy Frio!!! The hike took us down from Quilatoa to the Rio Toachi. We could see the river canyon from the peaks when we hiked the rim of the crater, but we were surprised at how spectacular the canyon and river below turned out to be when we reached the rim of the river canyon. We met a man at the mirador who was farming near the rim and he showed us where he had planted about a 100 pine trees just below the rim, he was very proud of them as he should be. Of course the trip back was all uphill so once again we huffed and puffed our way up the hill. On our last day at the Lago we hike 1200 ft. down to the water and spent some time at the waters edge. They say the water is so full of minerals that it can't be purified for drinking. After four days at the high elevation we didn't huff and puff nearly as much on the hike back out. Quilatoa is a very cloudy, rainy, and cold place It warms up in the morning and is pleasant until about 3 or 4 when it gets seriously cloudy, cools down and rains. I would usually build a fire in the room no later than 4:00 pm. There were rumors that on a clear day one could see two snow capped volcanoes behind the crater, so even though we were freezing our asses off there, we stayed an extra day in hopes of catching a look at them. So, on the morning we were leaving as we were doing our final packing, and just twenty minutes before we were to meet a truck to take us to Chugchilan I looked toward the rim and saw the most blue I'd seen in 4 days. I grabbed my camera and hustled up to the craters rim and there was Volcan Iliniza, in all it's snow capped glory. It was beautiful, the lake the volcano, blue skies. I enjoyed the moment, snapped off a few and ran back to get Donna. We hustled back up the rim and luckily the clouds were still a few minutes away. At 9:00 am we piled into the pick up with two young friends from Idaho and headed down to Chugchilan. It was an hours drive, but what an hour. It was such a beautiful morning and the scenery of the Andes was just awesome. Not only that, our driver, a young man from still another village, was a super nice guy and a very cautious driver on the one lane dirt road. (This road was a 5-15 mph road). On the way we passed an older couple picking beans in a field that turned out to be the drivers grand parents. He doesn't come this way often as he lives in the town on the other side of Quilatoa and most of his work is that way. The joy in both the grandfather and the grandson was just wonderful to witness as we stopped in the road and they visited. Along the way we passed by lots of pinos & eucalipto trees. Chugchilan is another very small village. Our hostal, once again was a room with breakfast & dinner. The town is in a wonderful setting and our room was one of the nicest we've ever had in all our travels. The day we arrived we hiked down from the hostal through a narrow gorge that was really nice and emerging in farm land on a plateau. We sort of wove our way through the various farms and small gorges until we found ourselves at the rim of a large and once again, very deep and beautiful river canyon. On the way back we were looking for a different route back and we stopped and spoke with the sweetest, very old man you could ever imagine. His voice was like a little old angel, he told us the only way back was the way we had come. The next day we climbed up into the cloud forest behind Chugchilan and took a very nice 2 1/2 hour climb up the mountain, then traversed it and walked down, coming out on the other side of town. With the 2000 ft elevation drop, down to about 10,000 ft, we putted right up the mountain. This was Christmas day. We had a very quiet day, and then dinner with the only other folks at the hostal, a very nice young couple. He from Poland, she from Australia. The folks at the hostal are really friendly and nice to us. Fernando, a teenager, comes up to the dinner table every night after dinner and ask us all what our plans are for the next day, then points us in the right direction. He drew us a map for our trek and lined us out on the bus out that we will catch in the morning. So, on the day after Christmas we hopped on a bus about 9:00 am and had a three hour bus ride to Latacunga. We got off the bus and right on another, ten minutes later we were on our way to Ambato. In Ambato we took a taxi across town to another bus terminal and caught a bus to Banos within five minutes. In Banos, a short taxi ride to the Hostal Santa Marie, change into shorts and here we are. About 6000 ft. lower and much warmer.
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