November 22, 2016
Today we shared a truck ride with other guests to Quilotoa. We set out from the rim of the crater and hiked down to the lagoon, stopping to take tons of photos and talk to other tourists.
The volcano is technically still active, as evidenced by the bubbles rising to the surface. The hike itself was quite steep, and the path is made up of loose sand. Not exactly what we are used to. For being 10,000 + feet up, it was blazingly hot hiking in the sun.
We made it down and back up in a little over two hours, rested a bit, and ate our sack lunch of cheese and veggie sandwich, apple, and popcorn! What a treat to be provided by the hotel! Our crumbs were picked up by the neighborhood chickens. Then we set out from the Quilotoa crater rim on a 10 km hike back to Chugchilan.
We navigated by following another picture book map, getting off track only once, and subsequently scrambling back down to the trail. Nathan was hiking down first through a bunch of burned branches and didn’t realize that a branch had snagged his camera strap. Luckily, I saw it dangling there off the branch, reunited it with its rightful owner, and saved the day. One never knows when a pickpocket might strike.
We saw tons of sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens on our way down, and were even serenaded by a screaming goat.
We made it back to the inn by 5:15, treated ourselves and some Brits to a locally made cheese plate, showered the dirt off, and prepared for dinner and Alfred’s magic show.
Tomorrow is a little uncertain, as Hotmail is not working this evening, but we are headed to Riobamba to start our Inca trail leg.