The Quilatoa Loop

I asked a fellow traveler what the best part of Ecuador was and she told me the Quilatoa loop. Two weeks later Noa and I found ourselves exploring this loop just south of Quito, Ecuador.

Latacunga to Chiclao to Quilatoa and back to Latacunga, it may sound easy, yet at the moment this path seemed very complex. Noa and I took an overnight bus from Cuenca to Latacunga and arrived at 5am. We walked for about 12 blocks, with our packs on, to a trashy hostel. We then recouperated, we took a 5 hour nap, ditched our packs and took the necessary things with us in our day packs, and made our way to Chiclao. After curving through hills and valleys we arrived at the small, windy and cold town of Chilao. Noa and I met some English boys on the bus who were about to embark on the same adventure. We ended up getting a cabin with them and spent the next two days hiking with them as well, what a fun bunch! That day we hiked down into what Chiclao is known for, the amazing lagoon which was once a volcano. The hike down was not bad, the way up however was a killer! The lagoon was 'brilliant'as the british boys would say. It is a bright blue pool sourrounded by old valcano walls. We returned from the hike hungry as could be. That night we were served dinner by a little old lady who wore a peacock feather in her hat and had 'gold' beads coiled around her neck. After dinner we all huddled around the fire for warmth, however that may have been counteacted by the beers consumed, oops!

The next day we all woke up to a loud birds. I saw my breath as I poked my head out of my sleeping bag, burrrrrrrrrr! After we all woke up, it took the boys a while, we made our way to breakfast, onece again served by the little old lady. We asked her, as well as the other workers, if they would direct us to the Inca cave we were hoping to find. Well, no one wanted to poing us in the right direction, they all wanted to guide us there for $15, no thank you! Once again we were in for an adventure. We made our way over a hill, through a valley, found a hut used by pastors, hiked thorugh a cloud, and eventually spotted what looked like a cave, however there was no path there. We made our own. Hiking through long thick grass, brush, and bumpy terrane we arrived to what we hope to be the Inca cave.

Returning from the cold taxing hike, we made our way into the cabin for a warm glass of tea, YUMMM. It was time for Noa and I to move on, Quilatoa was our next stop.

We arrived, via the back of a truck, to a small welcoming village. It was somewhat warm, the sun was shining, and we ended up in a wonderful hostel. With time to spare, Noa and I went on another hike. We passed a cemetary and made our way to the bottom of a valley, what a spectacular view. As we arrived to the bottom we say a group of girls leading a group of sheep, fields of flowers above, and lovely rays of sunshine. Noa and I took advantage of this beauty and took a nap!

Day two in Quilatoa...
We woke up to an amazing breakfast served by the hostel, eggs, toast, yougurt, granola, fruit, juice, coffee, and then some, wow! Good thing we got a good heary breakfast, we had a 7hr, hike through the cloud forest ahead of us. We bagan the hike wondering when we would arrive to the cloud, and ended the hike wondering when it would leave us! The hike was bizare, we saw sights ulike anything I had ever seen. We found the cloud forest, or sould I say it found us. We could only see 2m infront of us. We ended up approaching a a wierd shape, which ended up beign a group of 7 cows, wierd! The cloud began to rain on us, every inch of life had drops of rain on it, including us. We ended up getting lost, but found our way, however, we didn't make it out of the cloud!