Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

Once in Latacunga we hopped off the bus and wandered to a nearby hostal where we took a room for the night, it was surprisingly cheap at US$6 each.  We should have known...

At approximately 2am a woman arrived in the hostal, the doorbell woke us with it`s fire alarm intensity.  Then her heels made a loud clacking noise as she walked up and down and up and down and up and down repeatedly past our door.. oh and the hallway light shone brightly through the hole above the door, the window no longer in evidence.

To top it off she left and then returned an hour or so later, repeating her performance.  It was at this point that I got up, turned the hall light off and slamed our door.  I think she got the message.

The next morning we had quick showers and packed some day bags for a trip to the crater lake of Quilatoa.  To get there we hopped on a local bus to Zumbahua, and from there rode on the back of a 4x4 to the village at the rim of the crater.

The view of the lake is spectacular; the water is vibrant green.

From here (after buying more souveneirs!) we ate a quick brunch of scrambled eggs and coffee then headed off for a 5 hour walk to a place called Chugchilan. 

The weather was at first fine, then dreadful, the clouds blocking almost all view of the countryside.  To add to this the trail was no longer marked due to locals destroying the signage in order to drum up business as guides (of which we met none..)

Along the way we encountered two Americans, almost as lost as ourselves.  Oh, and the local variety of toi-toi.

Eventually, about lunchtime, we reached a small village and quickly (because the village was really small) discovered there was no food to be had, so we had to rely on what we had brought with us.

After a false start due to the path not being marked (see above), we decided to enlist the aid of some local guides, two small boys whose parents owned and operated the only hostal in town.  A captive but limited market.

Along the way we encountered a donkey and it´s young foal(?).  I held my hand out to it and eventually it crept close enough to touch, almost.  We carried on and it followed us for a way.

For their service we paid our guides US$1 and also gave them a NZ coin, not sure if they were pleased by this or not, I was getting sick of carrying them around.  They directed us down the middle of three paths and went on home.  The path went down into what can only be described as a crevice (30-40cm wide) between two walls of rock.  The trail then passed over an Indiana Jones style bridge.

At this point we became involved (not by our choice) in the Sunday afternoon antics of the local children who, at this time, being close to carnival, were soaking each other with water.

After scaling the side of a cliff which was slipping into the river below we climbed the ridge to Chugchilan where more locals were soaking each other with water.  Once again we joined the festivities, well Erin did. ;o)

There are 3 or 4 nice places to stay here, we just took the first we came to.  It was a lovely new place which included dinner and breakfast. 

We chatted with several other tourists (including the Americans we had met on the trail and an older English couple). 

The next morning at approximately 3:30am we heard the bus honking it´s horn as it came through the village.  We jumped out of bed, handed over our key and got on.  The reason the bus leaves so early is because the locals travel to the markets in Latacunga, they need to arrive at 7am.

Once we arrived back in Latacunga we had a nice view of Cotopaxi, our next destination!