Hello again, we went off the grid for a bit but are now with slow and passable WiFi. Well, enough to write a posting.
We took a short bus from Quito to Latacunga, a small working town with little to no tourist infrastructure. It really reminded me of Huancayo in a way. At least this time the hostel had our reservation.
Latacunga has a very charming three story food market, in which one seems to be able to pick up everything except fruit. The staple food of Latacunga is everything one doesn’t usually eat of a pig. Generally very salty. Out of curiosity, we approached the lady selling this pork piled high, and ended up buying a taste of all on offer. Been there, done that, maybe avoid in the future.
A 3 hour bus ride took us to the town of Isinlivi, where we stayed in the hostel appropriately named Llu Llu Llama. This hostel blocks access to WiFi and is a step off from the Quilatoa trail. The resident (what I believe to be) St. Bernard welcomed us warmly. Truly though, this hostel truly was comfortable and homely, and a hands down recommendation from me.
The next day saw us beginning the Quilatoa trek. One long descent on a grassy trail morphed into a long dirt path with the occasional short climb. The day was sunny and beautiful, which gifted us with incredible views the whole way through.
Our first large climb brought us to a brand new paved road with a fairly constant upwards slope. Schoolchildren and motorbikes raced by at uneven intervals, all of which stared at the gringos with backpacks coming through their town. Two kilometers along this road and we found ourselves in the following town. The hostel was a welcome site given that most of us getting tired of ignoring children demanding candy from us. The hostel in question seemed to cater to locals, and the common room filled with them at night. It felt awkward heading into the room to play cards, it felt like we were interrupting routine.
The next day started on a fairly lengthy downwards road. One of our party realized that he’d left the hostel without paying, and so ran back up the hill to pay. We picked up a charge, a small brown puppy that had followed a group of American hikers the ptevious day. We hoped that we were doing the right thing in taking her back.
We achieved the hardest part of our hike after a very tough Sandy incline, which led us to the Quilatoa crater. The volcano has since filled with water to become one massive lake. Enormity notwithstanding, we soon found ourselves hiking along the crater towards the town of Quilatoa. The climbs seemed to almost taunt us, and the size was quite a bit larger than I think was expecting. Altogether though, it was beautiful, and the clouds rolling in made it seem we were walking among them.
Quilatoa is decidedly more touristy than any other location we’d been to on the route, with prices to match. Yet we managed to find a decent place to stay and the group of 12 took over the hostel.
We left the hostel at around 9:45, trying to catch the 10am bus that never came. Instead we squeezed into a white Kia collevtivo, making the driver very happy with his 2.50 per person fair for the nearly 3 hour ride.
A diversion to our previous route will take us to the Cotopaxi national park, hopefully with great company in tow.
Global Thoroughfare 