Quilotoa Loop

Once we got out of Latacunga (after closed roads with no diversions), the drive up into the hills was stunning. We peaked at a 4,000m pass and the views on the far side were even better. We stopped for lunch at the saddle but it was so windy the van was rocking like we were in a sail boat!

We stopped in a small village where a distinctive style of painting originated, and picked up a couple more great souvenirs. It's funny how we don't buy anything for ages, then seem to buy lots in a short space of time.

We then drove a couple more hours down to a hostel on the far side of the famous Quilotoa Loop and met Ben, a fellow brit. This was most fortuitous as Jo mentioned I was looking for someone to climb Cotopaxi with, and Ben said so was he. I was lucky to find someone equally crazy (see photo) and it saved us both over $150 :)

To continue with our training the next day we walked from the hostel up to the Quilotoa Lake. This itself was no mean feat as it was a long way and about 700m up. When you consider the near sheer walled 200m deep canyon we also had to transverse it made it much more of hike. On top of that we also walked half of the lake circuit to get to the small town. It was pretty blowy at the top and we thought the route along the ridge was a bit too up and down for our liking, but what looked like an easier route was anything but and we were all knackered by the end of the 7+ hour hike. We haggled a taxi down to the half the price and zoomed back to the hostel to pick up Elvis, then drove back to Latacunga to book ourselves in for the Cotopaxi climb.Read more