Quilotoa - amazing Ecuador!

We decided to back-track a little and head for Latacunga, which is not far south of Quito. Latacunga is one place from where you can start The Quilotoa loop - a 200km circuit of tiny villages high in the Andean mountains. It was a tough few days but some of the best I've had travelling.

We set off early and took the bus to a small village called Pujili. There isn't much there to see, especially not having timed our visit with a market day, so we hopped on another bus to Zumbahua. Again, there wasn't much there either and it soon became apparent that the circuit is all about the marvellous landscapes rather than the villages themselves. Still, we stopped there for lunch and the "carne" of the day happened to be llama. Very tasty if you have a good cut. I'm not sure what part of the llama I was given but it didn't have any meat on it, but that's the luck of the draw! Sophie kindly donated some of her 'fillet' of llama!

Despite many offers of a lift, (you can tell they wonder why we would choose to walk) we hiked to a village called Quilotoa which is set amongst the clouds and at the edge of a volcanic crater.  It wasn't a particularly challenging hike, but it was made that little bit tougher by the altitude. Oh and the fact that we walked the wrong way for half an hour and had to spend another half an hour getting back to the start!

Quilotoa soon became shrouded in cloud - I'm not sure you can call it fog when it's clearly cloud - and we chose a place to stay. It was probably the most basic of accommodations we have encountered. Yes, I think I'm right in saying that. The jungle retreat in Guatemala had wireless internet. The one in Mexico had a fully functioning restaurant. This place did have electricity and technically it had hot water so I suppose it wasn't the most basic of basics! But it had no running water and no heating. And once the sun went down it got very cold. They had a shower cubicle but no shower. Instead you could order a bowl of hot water to splash yourself with if you dared get undressed in those temperatures.

Not that I'm complaining at all. The family running the guesthouse were so kind and helpful and their hospitality made it the perfect place to stay. Plus, once the fire in the dining room was lit, and the beers were opened we had a lovely evening chatting to two British guys we'd met earlier in the day.

Early the next morning we walked the fifty or so meters up the road to the edge of the crater. The crater lake at Quilotoa is an amazing sight. If you are lucky to have some moving clouds overhead, you can watch as the lake changes shades of green and blue.

We decided to climb down to the lake for a closer look and on the way back up we found out what climbing at altitude is all about! It took an hour but it felt like three. However, once at the top we recovered pretty fast, got some supplies and started the hike to Chugchilan. And we found ourselves a free guide too. A dog that happened to see us leave the mini-store must have decided we needed a little help on the four to six hour journey. He led from the front for over two hours and then disappeared off into the distance. Were we too slow? Did he give up waiting for us to donate a salted biscuit? Who knows.

The hike to Chugchilan, as the notice says at the start, is a hard walk. We walked for an hour around the top of the crater and then descended down towards a tiny village called Huayama. There we bumped into an Estonian guy whom we’d met in Quito. He had just started a five month job teaching children about computers. We saw where he was living and it was pretty grim. It must be quite an experience teaching children who don’t know that Ecuador is in South America let alone where Europe is.

The hike took us towards Chugchilan and we could see it in the distance. The only problem was the huge canyon inbetween! We had to walk all the way down it and then a solid hour climb up the other side. It was a good job there was tremendous views to take our mind off walking.

After about six hours of tough hiking in the day we were in need of somewhere to stay and a shower. Luckily there is a hostel in Chugchilan that has much more than you expect. Not only hot running water, but a Turkish steam bath too! And who should be lying down a few feet from our room? Our four-legged friend!

At the hostel we met a Dutch couple called Ron and Lisa and we happily chatted the night away over some particularly strong Cuba Libres. The Dutch are great. I can’t believe I’ve never been to Holland. It was the perfect way to end a tough day. We even got treated to some dancing by the local children in carnival attire, for a small tip of course!

The next day we took advantage of the steam room to ease some of the aches and pains. Remembering all too well the day before, we sensibly took the bus through the other towns to complete the loop. After all, you don't want to rush things too much at high altitude!