Quilotoa Circuit

Saturday after Santa Martha we took a few buses and taxis to end up at Quilotoa, which is a small village high up in the mountains (3800 meters). One of the buses was so full that we sat up on the roof with a bike and dog for about half an hour. Then we moved into the crowded bus, since it´s actually not allowed to sit up top. It was pretty fun sitting on the roof with amazing views. It´s common to see chickens, goats and sheep on top of the bus or in the storage area of the bus (with the luggage).

The scenery was beautiful green hills and mountains with little houses. Farmers crops were even found on really steep remote hills.

Quilotoa was quite cold at night. Luckily our room had a little wood stove, but it wasn´t enough to keep Paulien warm through the night. Also, the shower there didn´t get any warmer than icy cold. We hiked around the ridge of a spectacular volcanic crater filled with an emerald lake (4 hours). The views were beautiful and there were many flowers covering the whole crater. Then we took a bus to Chugchilan with 3 other travellers we´d met on the scariest bus ride so far, since the dirt road was narrow, had no guard rails, and was really close to big drop-offs.

The Mama Hilda Hostel at Chugchilan had a common eating area (like Quilotoa) for breakfast and dinner, which was kept really warm by a wood stove. It was a nice change from being cold, plus there was a warm shower.

At both hostels in Quilotoa and Chugchilan the breakfast and dinner were really good local food. For example, dinner started with soup that had quinoa, potatoes and cilantro. Main meal with corn maize, salad and eggs for us (chicken for everyone else). Chicken is included in most meals here. For dessert there was pie or fruit (tomate de arbol, a local fruit also used to make juice).

In Chugchilan we did a small hike in a canyon with 2 other travellers. There were small houses made of what looked like corn husks. We think that they used to be used for living in them (and probably still in poorer areas), mostly now just for animals or storage.

Yesterday we left Chugchilan at 11am for a long trip back to Quito. We didn´t get to our hostel in Quito until 8pm because of bad bus connections and then traffic in Quito.

Tomorrow we start our 2nd volunteer project, which is a week with a tribe (through Yanapuma). Right after that we go onto our third project for a month with FCSF.