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Published: October 19th 2007
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Laguna Quilotoa
Taxi for the lazy I had high expectations for Ecuador. So far all have been exceeded. It is a beautiful and fascinating country with some of the friendliest people I have ever met. We have only been here a week and we have fallen in love with Ecuador. The undulating landscape, the colonial towns, the breathtaking views, the feeling of being at high altitude, the food... It is truly awe inspiring.
We left Quito last Friday and caught the local bus to Latacunga which was in itself an unforgettable experience. All you can hear when you enter the bus station is people shouting out the names of potential destinations, eg. "Riobamba, Riobamba, Riobaaambaaaaaaaaa (X10) ". We passed most the day doing Irish versions of these. It´s funny because it´s not as if they are going to change your mind about where you want to go.´"We´re going to Latacunga, but now that you mention it, maybe we will actually go to Riobamba, 100 miles in the opposite direction". Once on board the bus, you could easily have your weekly shop done by the time you reach your destination... bananas, apples, ice cream, magazines, nuts, water... I could go on. As soon as the bus shows
Latacunga
The Hostel Tiana courtyard any sign of slowing down, about 3 people have already hopped on ready to sell their stock! It also appears that the best seat on the bus, is the one behind the gringos. One unfortunate man was ousted from his seat by two guys who I immediately became suspicious of. I warned Mark to watch his bag which was between his feet on the floor and sure enough, a few seconds later he felt a tug as his bag was being dragged under the seat. Luckily he spotted it on time and the guys soon alighted.
Our hostel in Latacunga is (again) gorgeous! We are the only people staying here though which is a bit spooky at night! (even the staff don´t stay here!) On our second night, we became very territorial when an annoying Dutch couple arrived, spoiling our romantic hideaway! We have been so tired with all the trekking we´ve been doing that we´ve been conking out at 8.30pm for the last few nights. I awoke last night at 11pm to the sound of the doorbell ringing incessantly. I woke up Mark after about 5 minutes, who decided in his sleepy state, that it was a malfuntion.
Latacunga
All tucked up in bed That was, until the loud banging on the door started! I was terrified and convinced that it was robbers with knives. They sounded so violent. Eventually the door was opened by someone and it turns out that our Dutch neighbours had been locked out. I was NOT happy and made as much noise as I could the next morning when we were getting up at 7am. Since we went to sleep by 9pm every night, we hadn´t even realised that the doors were locked so early.
We decided to visit Laguna Quilotoa (3,500m) on our first day in Latacunga to further accelerate our aclimatisation. Rather than opting for the local bus to bring us there, we hired a guide- this was obviously the more expensive option, but definately the easier and more fun way to do it. We have gone a good bit over budget recently by using guides but it is worth it for sure. We visited a local market high up in the Andes. We saw live sheep being slaughtered, pigs tied to lamposts (their minutes numbered!), llamas carrying everything from bottles of fanta, to children, to stacks of bananas. We saw the locals travel for miles
Latacunga
Horniman´s Tea. No side effects recorded. by foot, accompanied by llamas to carry their purchases. The scenery was mind blowing. Words really aren´t sufficient to describe all of this.
I thought it would be nice to buy some pastries from the market for our mid morning snack. Bad idea. While they looked pretty innocuos, they tasted soooo bad we had to spit them out! We did however invest in some alpaca gloves for our trip to Cotopaxi. They are so soft, just lovely. Two hours later I decided to put mine on, after 5 minutes I noticed that the thumb part of the glove was unravelling at a very fast pace! I had to get the sewing kit out that night!
We arrived at Laguna Quilotoa, a crater lake. We hiked down to the shore with our fellow traveller, Jeremy. Most people then hire a horse to bring them back up as it is a sheer cliff! Very daunting to consider doing it by foot, but we figured that 1. We needed the practice for Cotopaxi and; 2. We needed to cut down the spending in a serious way! ($5 each for a horse seemed excessive, yet we had spent $40 each for the
Quilotoa Loop
Dramatic Scenery guide!) So off we went. It was very tough, probably one of the hardest things we have ever done. the kids with the horses even followed us up some of the way, expecting us to give in. There were times when my legs just refused to move. But an hour later, we had reached the top and were elated that we had done it. We had a well deserved traditional Ecuadorian lunch at the top and generally felt good about ourselves for the rest of the day.
The next day we hired a guide to bring us to Cotopaxi. Back on the Pan-American and off to the national park we went. For me, it was the best day of the trip so far, and one of the best days of my life. The national park was stunning and our guide was excellent. He was so enthusiastic about the wildlife and had us creeping about the park looking at wild bulls, wild horses, wolves, falcons, ducks, and my favourite- condors. There are only 8 condors in the national park and we managed to spot 2 or 3. They are huge, 3 1/2 metres from one end of their wing to
the other. We drove up part of the way and then hiked up to the base camp at 4,500m. We ate lunch there and tried to warm up. I had bought a huge alpaca hoodie that morning and had luckily brought it with me! I had a base layer, a fleece, alpaca hoodie, jacket, 2 pairs of gloves and a hat on me. I wanted to avoid the freezing of the fingers that occured when we climbed Pichincha (and also having to put my hands in Mark´s armpits again!). Mark was able to cope with the cold alot better than me! Our guide, Gerardo was impressed with our fast ascent to the refugio at base camp and suggested that we head up to a glacier at 5,000m. Off we went, and I began to feel stronger the higher I went. Luckily no altitude sickness at all for me this time, but poor Mark was suffering from an altitude induced headache. We made it easily enough and as we saw others practising with their crampons for the summit push that evening, we were tempted... Not ready yet though!
We are saving ourselves for El Misti in southern Peru (5,822m). By
Quilotoa Loop
On the way to the market that stage, we will have lots more climbing at altitude experience under our belts. Climbing at high altitude is something I´ve always wanted to do so I am really enjoying our challenges so far. I think we both really love it. As a last minute decision today I decided that we would travel further North in Peru than we had originally planned. We are now going to stay in Huaraz in the Cordilleras for 5 nights, which should be amazing and also provide some more climbing opportunities.
Next stop Baños, south east of Latacunga. Over the next few days we will be making our way to Coca in the Oriente where our rainforest tour begins on 19th October.
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MichaelM.
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glangevlin
Woderful phpotos and fascinating acconts of mountain traveling. Am reminded of the journies of Tom Crean and his fellow explorers in the South Atlantic.