We left Rio Verde about half 8 on the Saturday, after another breakfast which was told to be strictly anything other than eggs. Our next location was the village of Chugchilian to visit Quilatoa, a volcanic crater. What we did have though was a lot of climbing as the lake is high above sea level and Rio Verde is not. We stopped off en route in Ambato, and also the small village of Zumbahua for lunch later on. The mountain pass we went over to this village took us over 4000m for the first time! For lunch I had lamb with rice and salad, and a short time after lunch we arrived in Chugchilian about 2 ish.
Chugchilian is set in the slopes of the Rio Toachi Canyon, and is well known for having many stunning hikes in the surrounding areas. We were given the afternoon to do whatever we wanted. I looked round the village which was actually very lively with this intense volleyball match taking place, and the locals being very friendly. Our hotel itself even had a games room with a pool table and table tennis to name a few games. The only thing it lacked was wifi. I then ended up having a nap afterwards as I was exhausted after the previous nights camping. Dinner in the evening was pork which was really nice. I then ended up having an early night, although the temperature had plunged massively so it was freezing.
After a good night's sleep I woke up Sunday morning raring to go to visit the nearby crater. Lake Quilotoa is a beautiful volcanic crater lake located at 3,600m above sea level in the hills between the villages of Zumbahua and Chugchilán. Its emerald water spans a circle with a diameter of 2kms - Quilotoa is an active volcano, but the last major eruption was over 850 years ago. The lake also lends its name to the Quilotoa Loop, given to the winding circuit of spectacular dirt roads that connect Lake Quilotoa to Latacunga and the Pan-American Highway. The roads that lead away from Latacunga are unpaved, winding and have spectacular views of the mountains, rivers and verdant landscape.
Breakfast in the morning was eggs with bread and fruits. We set off in jeeps at about half 8 to drive to the lake, arriving by 9 where we had a brief look round the village, before going to this viewpoint to see the stunning emerald colour lake. We were then given the option to either walk down into the crater or look around Quilotoa, being given a strict meeting time of 11 to return. I decided to walk into the crater. The views of lake was just stunning and I shot down to the waterside within half hour. I even touched the water. Despite many people trying, only 5 of us made it to the bottom. The walk back up was a lot tougher however as being at altitude the air is lot thinner meaning you get out of breath more quickly. It was also very hot. I took about an hour to get back up but the walk was worth it just for the views alone!
I reached the top again with time to spare and met the others to take in the view one last time. We were then given the option of walking the 10km back to Chugchilian, or taking the jeep back to the hostel to relax. I chose the hike and we set off following the rim of the crater. The clouds decended at this point however making it nice and cool, but not cold. The views of the crater were still just as stunning, although the terrain was very loose underfoot meaning a lot of care had to be taken. Before long we left the crater and decended rapidly down the loose terrain into the valley, where at the bottom we had our packed lunches in this remote village. This dog had followed us from Quilatoa all the way here and was in its element here as everyone was feeding it!
After lunch we continued decending, initially following this dirt track, and then dropping into the canyon past waterfalls. The scenery was just amazing. Once on the canyon we headed back up the other side, and followed the edge which was badly eroded in places through to another village where the locals were thrilled to see us. When leaving the village we decended once again into the canyon down a very loose path through rocks and trees right down to this stream and this road. We were then allowed to walk our own pace back to the hostel as the pace en route had been very pedestrian. I therefore tanked it back to the hostel, and somehow never got out of breath despite going back uphill once again. I arrived back at half 3, with the dog who passed out, and we cheered everyone in who arrived over the next hour or so.
I then spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing, with dinner being at 7. Dinner was fish, and after dinner I played pool for a bit, before heading to bed for another early night. Everyone was just really tired, and we had a 6am departure time in the morning!
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