Quilatoa Loop

View of the mountains from Sigchos

Hiking The Quilatoa Loop

Road to Insinlivi

Quilatoa is a volcanic crater lake in Ecuador just south of Quito. To get there you can bus it to nearby Latacunga which is the starring point of the loop. From there you can hire a truck or hire a taxi, some people catch a bus to a nearby town and hike from one to four days. Many people take bit of a loop going through Quilatoa and other towns, ending back in Latacunga.

We decided to hike the majority of he loop as the country side was supposed to be beautiful. It didn't disappoint. We went with a guy we met at the airport, Jonas. The plan was to catch a bus in Quito, and go to Latacunga, about 3 hours south. From there we would go to hostel Tiana, drop off our big bags and take our day packs to the first stop on the hike.

Andrea overlooking the Andes

We hit a snag right away! When we got to Latacunga we realized the bus to our first stop on the loop left in 30 minutes! No time! We busted a move to Hostel Tiana, dropped our bags off, busted a move to the bus station and literally chased our bus! The unfortunate part? We missed the information part of things about the hiking paths... Guess we were on our own.

First stop: Sigchos

We decided to start by busing to Sigchos, north of Quilatoa. By the way the buses don't stop for bathrooms. Ever pee in a bottle before? Neither had I. And seriously, what are the odds a group of school children would search the garbage find said bottle and start throwing it around? Andrea, stop laughing! I must clarify the children came onto the bus AFTER the duty was done.

Beautiful views of the Andes are shared with the donkeys

Once there, there wasn't much to do so we chatted up the locals found our route, got the grand tour of town by a school teacher, and settled into our 8 dollar room for the night.

From Sigchos we took a secondary road through the mountains to Insinlivi. The mountains were pretty cool but the road was not an exhilarating hiking trail. I think we missed out on the actual trail. Guess we could have used some more info on day one.

Insinlivi

Mike reads the directions to Chugchilan

Once in Insinlivi, we decided to stay at a really cool hostel called Llullu Llama. It was real cool. Little expensive at 21 dollars pp for a private room but we got breakfast and dinner with that so it was ok. And Andrea and I both thought it may have been the best hostel we've stayed at. We were served coffee in the afternoon in front of the wood burning fire place as it poured rain outside and the beds were warm and comfy. From here we got the actual information for the hiking path to the next town Chugchilan. (Pictures of forks in the road included!)

Hostel Llullu LLama directs traffic from Insinlivi to Chugilan
 with arrows

The hike to Chugchilan was amazing. Steep, tall, pointy, lush green mountains surrounded us as we hiked down to the river and back up the other side through a pass, past a school and into Chugchilan. For a bit of a hiking break Jonas and I joined the school kids in a game of soccer. I love that kind of stuff. Andrea loved all the farms that dotted the steep mountain sides. Including the cows just chilling on the cliff sides. This hike would have been great as a stand alone activity even if you weren't going to Quilatoa. Beautiful.

Chugchilan

Andrea crosses the fence on the way to Chugchilan

Once in Chugchilan, we were running low on energy and high on blisters. Change of plan. Instead of a 6 hour hike up hill to Quilatoa, we decided to catch a 6AM bus there, and spend our day hiking the crater.

Crossing the valley, and up the other side

Taking a break

Quilatoa

Quilatoa was the pot of gold at the end our rainbow. Our rainbow was our hike... It was worth the journey! We spent the morning hiking down the crater to the lake and back. Mules for 8 bucks would have been worth it as the hike back up was exhausting, the altitude here is 3800m.

From here, we bused it back to Latacunga, completing our loop, and said goodbye to Jonas. Next stop: Banos.

Travelers notes:

The bus to Sigchos from Latacunga was supposed to leave at 1PM, but it left at 12:15. Get there early, you just never know.

You can store bags at Hostel Tiana in Latacunga, and they can supply you with some detailed hiking routes. These are a need.

In Sigchos we stayed at Hostel Miguel. Definitely nothing special. 8 bucks per person. This wasn't our favourite stop. Maybe if we had better hiking instructions the hike would be better. Instead we walked a road. (Still really nice though!)

At Insinlivi there are 2 options for Hostels. Llullu llama at 18 bucks pp (21 per private room) was really cool. I recommend it. It includes dinner and breakfast. A cheaper and very nice alternative is down the street and costs 12 pp. (Also includes dinner and breakfast) Lots of day hikes here. We could have spent a couple of days here.

In Chugchilan there are also 2 hostels. Cloud Forest and Mama Hilda's. Mama Hilda will lower their price to the 12 pp that Cloud Forrest charges. We liked Mama Hilda's. Both include dinner and breakfast. The next leg is apparently pretty tough. 5-6 hours uphill. A bus is another alternative.

Give yourself another good day for the crater, as its the reward from your hike and you want to have some energy to enjoy it!

Most importantly is this: Hike in the morning! It rained every afternoon we were on the loop!

Almost to Chugchilan. We have climbed up the other side.

Hostel in Chugchilan

Chugchilan sunrise

Quilatoa Crater Lake. Breathtaking.

In the Galapagos



Blue Footed Booby

Galapagos

I really had no expectations going into the Galapagos. Everyone pumps it up so much. It couldn't possibly satisfy. I pretty much expected to be let down.

It was absolutely amazing! It's pretty much a guarantee that you are going to see amazing quantities of animals, many of which are completely endemic to the Galapagos. We saw the most gigantic giant tortoises, we swam with sea turtles, penguins, sea lions (these guys are so playful in the water), eagle rays and more! We saw Islands that were over run with marine iguanas on top of marine iguanas on top of marine iguanas. Oh and blue footed boobies! This place will not disappoint. I have been converted.



Penguino!

Giant Tortoise

We made a friend at the airport in Guayaquil, on the way to Santa Cruz (the main island in the Galapagos) and as luck would have it we ended up on a cruise with her! The cruise was awesome. I wouldn't do it any other way looking back. It's just so simple and you see things you can't see on day trips. It's also a lot cheaper if you are able to wait till the day before and get your ticket right there. Our fellow passengers were pretty awesome (I think we lucked out there)! We had so much fun! (Shout out to G-man, Sandy, Han, Heety, Dan, Heather, Tory, Nick and Fabrizio Jr) We were all pretty similar in ages, and everyone was real fun and easy to get along with. The crew was amazing as well, and helped make our trip go real smooth. Lastly Fabrizio Sr was a great guide. I can't help but to think about endemic Galapagos animals in his voice and accent. And in that way, he helped make our trip pretty interesting and informative.

Marine Iguana

After getting back from the cruise, we stayed a couple more days and hung out with our cruise friends. We visited a few more sights and saw more animals but were pretty done with the islands by the end of those days so we said goodbye to our friends and booked it out of there. Back to Quito, to do the much talked about Quilatoa loop which is a 3-4 day hike to villages around a volcanic crater. We'll let you know how that goes!



Travellers notes:

Cruise:

Penguino!

We went on the Odyssey. It was pretty amazing. The crew was excellent. The boat was clean, the guide (Fabrizio) was excellent. Don't expect freebies such as open bar, or wetsuits just because the cruise was expensive. This was all extra. Food was pretty good, and they never ran out. We even had a turkey to celebrate our last day. The boat does rock, most of us took sea sickness pills at night when we hit the open sea, but I think I would have been fine without. I highly recommend this boat.

Buyers beware:

Booking a cruise online will ensure a spot on the boat, and if it's high season who knows this might be necessary. BUT, you will pay a much higher price. If you have the time to shop around and it's low season, consider buying your cruise in the Galapagos.

Hostels:

Sea Turtle

Puerto Ayora – We stayed in Galapagos Best Home Stay. It was fairly expensive at 28$ pp for a private room, with a kitchenette, OR 25$ pp for a dorm. It was clean quiet and had very comfortable beds. The hostel is a bit of a walk from the main drag. WiFi was super slow. The best thing about this place was the owner Kevin. He speaks fluent English and takes all his guests on a tour around town, and shows them the ropes.

San Cristobol – Casa Mabell. Just a block and a half off the main drag. Very cheap – 15$ pp. It was clean, comfortable, very clean and had quick WiFi, a shared kitchen and the owner is very sweet. The only downside to this place is that you can hear music from the discotech at night. And roosters, but you hear them everywhere. Bring earplugs and you are fine. Oh and it's located right by the panaderia, which sells excellent baking and enpanadas.

Guayaquil.

3rd security door, this is inside
 the apartment building

Guayaquil


We left Canoa 30 Sept 2013 and went to the port city of Guayaquil, in the travel books it's listed as the least safe city in Ecuador, oh joy. We had an amazing lady help us on the bus, she let us know how long we would have at the bus stops and helped us to find a "safe cab" to take from the bus depot as not all cabs are safe. This bus depot was huge, multi-level with people swarming all over. The security is high in Guayaquil with guards outside of banks/bank machines even after hours. Our hostel had 3 sets of security doors, 2 metal gates and then the door to our hostel. We experienced this multi door or gate security at our hostel in Quito as well.


Old city (Las Penas) brightly painted house



Both Mike and I were ready for a change of scenery from Canoa where we could have more adventures. We were pleasantly surprised in Guayaquil by the Malecon which is a river front boardwalk and tourist area with lots to do from museums to IMAX. The Malecon has the oldest part of town (Las Penas) which has cobblestone paths winding all over and brightly painted old houses. We climbed all 444 stairs to the top of the old town to where a light house overlooks the whole city. While eating supper on the Malecon there was a break dancing performance which was great fun to watch. So far we have had a great experience here and enjoyed our nights stay!



Cobblestone road in Las Penas