The Quilotoa Loop

Kait and I just finished the Quilotoa Loop, which starts and ends in Latacunga. At first, we we had to choose between two different paths to take: starting in Quilotoa, or starting in Isinliva, a small, 80-person town with only one hostel. Being that Quilotoa, with it´s massive crater lake, was the main attraction of our trip, we decided that we would start in Isinlivi, leaving the best for last.

To prepare for our trip, Kait and I generally agreed that it would be easier to condense our massive backpacks into one (and leaving the other bag in Latacunga at the hostel) due to the fact that we would be doing quite a lot of hiking. Unfortunately for me (the one who decided to carry it), it was actually heavier with both of our "essentials" than with all of my stuff alone. Next time we will pack much less. Anyways, after leaving Hostel and Cafe Tiana in Latacunga, we started on our two-hour bus ride to Isinlivi.

Now normally bus rides are nothing of particular interest to us; usually we try not to get too hot or nauseous while taking the necessary-but-generally-unpleasant trip between two places. This ride, however, was much different than any others that we have taken. Once we were on the bus for 30 minutes, we began the ascent into a vast network of mountain-top farmlands that continued unceasingly for the rest of our trip. For miles and miles, we could see that nearly every square inch of hilltops along the bus route were covered in farms, and particularly beautiful was that each individual segment of farm was a different color than the next. This combined with excellent views of nearby volcanoes with their peaks in the clouds made for one of the most beautiful bus rides (if not THE most beautiful) that we have taken. To make things even better, we met yet another awesome Canadian named Danny on the bus who ended up coming with us for the entire Loop.

Before too long, we arrived in Isinlivi, and stayed at a hostel called Llullu Llama, a hostel run by the same people that run the Hostel Tiana in Latacunga. Once we arrived, we found a Dutch couple volunteering to run the hostel as well as teach a few subjects at the local high school. After taking in the view of a gorge from a nearby peak, Danny, Kait and I decided to have a few beers before dinner, both of which were excellent.

The next day, after a delicious breakfast provided by the hostel, we immediately began our hike into the valley using a ridiculous set of instructions explained in broken English provided by the hostel. An example of one description was “Start going up when the wáter comes to the edge.” After only getting lost for part of the way – nice farmers helped us get on track – we eventually heade in the direction where we needed to go. Unfortunately for us, after traveling for so long at the bottom of the valley, we eventually had to go up… Normally this would be no problem, but I, with my 40-pound pack on my back, was dreading it, no matter how much it needed to be done. So up we went, and I, sending Kait and Danny ahead of me, took baby steps up to the top, stopping when I could to catch my breath. After what felt like 30 minutes of this, I finally caught up to Kait and Danny at the top where there was a road that would take us to our next stop: Chugchilan. Before that, though, we descended once again near the bottom of the valley to a very small village where we rested a bit, and learned that we, once again, had to climb an even steeper, longer hillside than before. After we all recovered from the shock that I did not collapse and fall down the hillside, we continued along the road (which was still generally uphill) and eventually made our way to our next hostel, The Cloud Forest Hostel in Chugchilan.

After consuming much-needed food and soda, we rested for the night and planned for our next trek to Quilotoa. All of us agreed, however, that with my idiotically heavy backpack, I should not nearly kill myself for two days in a row, and therefore we planned to take the next leg of the loop, the hardest leg, by horseback. So early in the morning after breakfast, we met our guide and got on our three trusty steeds. Our guide, a silly man who kept asking us if we were single or not, kept us going fast along the road to Quilotoa. (He would whip our horses for us; apparently he was in a hurry.) Danny´s horse, however, was a grumpy mother who, once whipped by the guide´s rope, would buck just enough to make things fairly uncomfortable for her… I couldn´t help but laugh just a little… My horse was a very smart one who, upon hearing faster horse hooves behind her, would speed up, likely out of a fear of being whipped, so I was always in the lead. I liked to think I actually had some control over the horse, but she basically just responded to the guide´s sounds behind her.

After a very short two hours, we made it to Quilotoa, got off our horses, checked in to our hostel after bartering to get a cheaper price, and promptly made our way down the crater´s rim. After a beautiful hike downwards, we found a cheery old guy at the bottom who was eager to sell one of us a horse ride with his horse back to the top for the same price as our room for the night. After declining, we made our way back to the top in an hour less than the guidebook said it would take. (We were quite proud of ourselves about that!)

Then we stayed the night, hiked along the road to Zumbahua to catch a bus back to Latacunga. The road hike was nice, but at the end of it, we were all really tired and ready to recharge our batteries, so we ate lunch, and caught a bus back here without incident. We are happy today, after all that hiking, that we have a chance to rest and get ourselves in order before heading to Banos, a city two hours south of us. Once there, we will likely do some trekking, visit some thermal baths, and possibly some other adventure tourism if it looks good.