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Published: March 18th 2016
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Latacunga
View from the terrace of our hostel in Latacunga The devil is in the details so they say, but in Ecuador’s case, the devil is in the mountains and in the waterfalls. It is also in the weather at the moment. It changes as rapidly as the convictions of a politician. It’s devilish hard to dress appropriately. One minute you are freezing in your fleece, the next you are sweating in your t-shirt. It’s no wonder my mum caught a cold.
The day of rest in Otavalo wasn’t enough for her to recover, nevertheless she decided to ‘woman’ up and we left for Latacunga the next day. Latacunga wasn’t our destination though, it was just a stop-over. It’s neither ugly, nor pretty. It has its charms, some cobbled-stoned streets, a few churches and plazas and some nice buildings. But the reason for coming to Latacunga is not Latacunga.
Latacunga is the spider in the web of national parks that surround it. Most of them involve one or another volcano, either extinct, dormant or if you are unlucky active. We went for an extinct one, it seemed wise. Quilotoa is both a loop and a village along that loop. It was the village we were headed for, because it
Latacunga
Street view of Latacunga is situated at the edge of a crater lake, which is also called… Quilotoa. A beautiful crater lake. Blue, green, turquoise, depending on the way the light touches it. That is if the sun is out. But Lucifer was playing with us and as we arrived the clouds rolled in. We had been bedeviled it would seem. Wet clouds, thick clouds, obscuring the lake. It became cold. We retired to our room. It had a wood stove. The devil hadn’t counted on that. I threw on some logs and warmed up our temporary abode. Fire, the devil’s instrument, put to our advantage. Up yours Beelzebub!
He surrendered. The next day was bright and sunny, the lake was sublime. The victory sweet. We strolled around it for a while. We sat and watched the fluffy white clouds reflect in its surface and contemplated that life was grand. The devil had his revenge though. My mum’s cold got worse. It was time to get to lower altitudes and warmer climes.
Baños it was. The name itself sounds warm. It is known for its hot-springs. That seemed just what the doctor ordered. Satan grumbled and nearby Volcán Tungurahua spewed ashes and
Quilotoa
Quilotoa village at 3800 meters in rainy weather fiery lava at his behest. It didn’t deter us. We got ourselves, what is possibly the best deal in Ecuador, a room with a balcony facing a waterfall for a measly 10 dollars a night per person. Mind you, that was including a private bathroom
and it was squeeeeeky clean. We were happy. A good spot to relax for a few days. In the meantime threatening puffs of smoke could be seen rising above the hill that obscured our view of the volcano. Somebody was not happy.
Nevertheless we soaked our weary bones in hot mineral rich waters and ignored the taunts of the devil. On day four my mother had recovered sufficiently to allow a sojourn down the road to Rio Verde, known for its many waterfalls along the way. And zip-lines, and cable cars and other toys for tourists. You can take a mountain bike and roll most of your way down this road, or if you have only just recovered from a cold you can take a bus. At the end of the ride you are invited to hike downhill to the impressive Pailón del Diablo, or in other words, the Devil’s Cauldron! If Lucifer isn't
Quilotoa
And then the sun came out and this was the result! stirring up volcanoes he is stirring up water so it seems.
Time stops for nobody so we decided to slowly move on south again. Riobamba first, a pleasant two hour bus-ride away. Colonial and pretty. It has a train station, part of the newly restored Andean railway line which runs from Guayaquil on the coast to Quito in the highlands. If you can afford it, you can take in the views by rail for… 1300 dollars. Luckily you can also just do sections of it, which is slightly cheaper.
The most famous section is outside Alausí, it’s called Nariz del Diablo. There you have him again. The devil, this time it’s his nose. His nose houses switchback tracks, so trains can run up or down his nose. It is scenic, fun and affordable. But the devil always has some tricks up his sleeve. We arrived in Alausí only to discover the train we wanted to take wasn’t running. And neither was it going to run the next day. Somebody didn’t want us to tickle his nose! But two can play at that game. We waited him out. By Tuesday the train was up and running again, just in
Quilotoa
Locals enjoying the view time for the sun to show its glowing self again. And so we scaled the Devil’s Nose, one chug at a time. Choo-choo!
Before Satan could wrinkle his nose and sneeze we hightailed it out of Alausí. To Cuenca, where Beelzebub seemed far away, except perhaps in some dishes. Or was he? There was rain after all. But then there was sunshine as well. A tug of war perhaps?
A little further south. A little lower. Further from the Devil’s Nose and Cauldron. To Vilcabamba, where people live long according to a Reader’s Digest article in 1955. The expats have come in droves to profit from this mythical longevity. Not us, we pushed on. Life is too short to waste on lounging about, even a long life. It’s time to leave Ecuador and its devils behind. Better not look back, I bet Satan is hot on our heels!
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