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Quilotoa Crater Lake
Volcano Cotopaxi in the backdrop So when you last heard from us we were heading on from Banos to go and trek some of the Quilotoa Loop and thats exactly what we did! We got a bus from Banos to Latacunga and from there hitched to a little town called Quilotoa (obviously the base of the loop). The ride up itself was the highlight of the day with a million indigenous folk hitching in the same 4x4 pickup truck at various points on the journey. We were just stared at for 2 hours and also a little embarassed as only us english can be when in the 2 meter squared space of the truck one of the women started breast feeding! We stayed at a gorgeous little hostal run by the locals where we also joined them for home cooked breakfast and dinner which was great. Bloody cold up there though with the yearly temps never changing from between 6-12 C so we even had our own log furnace in our lodge to keep us warm. So after a good feed and a great nights sleep the next morning we went out to view the famous alkaline volcano crater lake. Absolutely stunning and so picturesqe.
From the view point we could see the snow covered peak of Cotopaxi (Ecuadors 2nd highest volcano). We decided to attempt the 3-4 hour trek around the rim of the crater which started out great but went horribly wrong! First off the locals have removed all the signs on the trails because they want you to hire a guide which really isnt necessary for this walk. They also warn you that you shouldnt go out in less than groups of 4 which is just rubbish! However there is a damn good reason for hiring a guide to walk you round - dogs! Some of the locals dwellings are right on top of the trails so you have to pass through their front yard practically to get by. However if their pet vampire on 4 legs doesnt like you then you havent got a hope. This thing with fangs the size of tusks (that was definitely going to eat us) chased us about 500m back down the path just to make sure we had backed off - Lee managed to whack the damn thing with a rock to give us a headstart and we heard it whimper but it kept on
coming. All this happened with the owners watching the entire show pissing themselves laughing. We called out to them to call the dog off but you see because we didnt have a guide they dont want to let you by because you havent paid anyone for the pleasure. He perfectly understood us but wasnt calling that dog off even though it is a supposedly free nature trail! Lesson learned!
After a dose of valium and some food we made the descent down to the lake - which was a damn sight safer! You can hire boats and row across but only rock on other sides as there is only one side which has a beach. Some crazy dude dived on in even though the alkaline water has sat there with no outlet for hundreds of years - nice! You can also hire a mule to get back up the hill but the poor little loves were mostly lame so we hiked it - 20 minutes down, 40 backup at a near 80 degree angle on volcanic sand.
We left the next day and instead of going around the loop we headed back to Latacunga to do a bit of the
loop the other way. The transport to go the whole way round leaves at 3am - no thanks! So we stayed in Latacunga the night which was pretty uneventful (so we drank) and the next morning visited a tiny town called Saquisili which has a famous Thursday morning market that is not very touristy (or for the faint hearted) at all. There are 8 different markets that happen in the same area all specialising in different goods and the first one we went to was the animal market. The noise itself was a spectacle - squealing piggies stealing the show there. Although I definitely wasnt getting to close to the huge bulls that are only tethered by what might aswell be string or even a small child! But the most amazing bit was how the mountain folk get their purchases home if they dont have their own car - yes youve guessed it they ride either in or worse, on top of the bus! Couldnt believe my eyes when we saw sheep, chickens and pigs restrained to the top of the buses, bleating for their lives! Some of the market really did just look like a jumble sale but most
Cuenca
Home of the Panama Hat was great local produce, oh, and of course there were a million guinea pigs for sale too.
After the market we made our way to the bus terminal and hopped on the bus to Riobamba. This is where the only train in Ecuador is still operational and is mainly a tourist attraction as you can ride on top of the train and it travels down a stretch of hazardous monutain called the Devils Nose. Or so we thought! We arrived in Riobamba on Thursday afternoon and could have got the 7.00am Friday train but decided to check out the place and there was apparently a good market Saturday morning so we would wait for the 7.00am Sunday train - big mistake. To say that there is nothing to do in Riobamba is an understatement and unfortunately we picked a cockroach infested hotel and paid for 2 nights upfront - another mistake that will not be happening again! So we busied ourselves wandering the streets, reading and exciting stuff like laundry. The Museum we visited was just awful - Ecuardorian religious art is not aesthetically pleasing! So on Saturday we rocked up at the Train Station nice and early to purchase our tickets for the next day (we moved hotel first thing aswell). A really nice man(?) at the gates told us that the ticket office opened at 3pm and to come back then which as good citizens we obeyed. The lying cheating scumbag just so happened to be there at 3pm when all the tickets had sold out because they went on sale at 2.45pm (the train was a smaller version that normally runs aswell so there were only 40 tickets anyway) and he also just so happened to work for a bus company that runs buses to the same place as the train! I wasnt allowed to shove his tickets where the sun doesnt shine because Lee wouldnt let me and for those of you that know me you can imagine that he could feel my wrath! Sorry about the rant, I was a little bit angry to say the least. So now as we had paid for another night in a hotel we had to stay until the next morning and got a 7.00am bus to Ingapirca. As it turns out you can no longer ride the top of the train anyway because a chinese tourist decapitated himself whilst trying to take in the views and from meeting up with people that did get tickets they said it was just boring so that makes me feel a little better!
Ingapirca was a 5 hour bus ride away (on a bus where the brakes were actually on fire on the mountainous descents - yes mum we are safe I promise) and we got there at 1ish. After checking our stuff into a tiny hostal run by a 7 year old we made our way up to the famous Inca ruin site which is the most important remains of the Incas in Ecuador. The stone work was amazing and the museum helped to piece together how it would have looked all those years ago. It definitely wet our appetite for Machu Pichu. However we expected it to take us longer than 2 hours to walk around so yet again we had booked into a hostal in a dead end town with nothing else to do. Fortunately we hadnt paid so apologising to a 7 year old with a few dollars for just hanging onto our bags for a few hours was quite easy and we got back onto the bus for another 2 hours and made it to the 3rd largest city of Cuenca by 6pm.
Cuenca is absolutely gorgeous and I could stay forever! Nothing like the stinky streets of Quito where you cant walk out your hostal after dark, I reccomend anyone coming to Ecuador to visit Cuenca. So pretty and friendly, not exactly a ton of stuff to do but strolling round the plazas, watching how panama hats are made (they originated here) and chilling out down by the really clean Rio Tomebamba has been great. We thought we may be able to see Pirates of the Carribean 3 but the cinema is not showing it in English until next week and our Spanish wouldnt get us through a movie! We are staying here for the Thursday morning market which is supposed to rival that of the one in Saquisili. Im trying to convince Lee to go Salsa dancing before we leave but hes not having any of it. On Thursday we are heading to Vilcabamba which is famous for being a chillout town where you go to relax and have massages so we will be there for a few weeks (I wish) and then onto Peru. Once again photos to follow and hope that you are all well and havent had any run ins with some mad dogs!
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james lilli nathan maree rischi and basti
non-member comment
hello
ez bro and sister we are all here on my terrance in switzerland kickin' back and hangin' out. it's good read your tales of travels and lnow you are alive good luck and staysafe all of us in switzerland