QUILOTOA: an active volcano with a lake in its crater

Current location: click here

Quilotoa is a small town in Ecuador that is becoming increasing attention from travelers.
The town is named after the volcano on which its located, and the lake that has formed inside the crater. It is an active volcano.
The reason for me to be here is the Quilotoa Traverse, a 3 days hiking tour starting at the edge of the crater, passing through the small village of Chugchilán and ending in Sigchos.
I've being looking forward to hike again since we left Quito. With an altitude of 3914m seems to be challenging and rewarding enough.

Here a panoramic photo of the lake from the crater's edge. It is possible to decend to the lake but I didn't do that as this would require one more day.

The path to Chugchilán has no signs and goes through very sandy ground; it is easy to get lost. When I went to the visitor's center to ask for a map and instructions they couldn't give me one but offered a guide for 20 US$. Ecuador was playing its first game in the FIFA cup and I was afraid nobody would be walking. I accepted and was surprised when I saw my guides :) the 14 years old Adrian and  his 10 years old aunt Silvia. I asked how would they return to Quilotoa in the darkness and they told me that they have relatives in Chugchilán and will stay there overnight. It was a Sunday. So we left ..

In the meantime I'm adjusted to the altitude (3.695 meters in this case), still the kids where to fast for me and I used by photo camera as an excuse to stop every hundred meters. They said 4,5 hours would be a very good time for my age :(

The sand closed to the volcano's crater looks as in the beach. Weird to find at so high in the Andes.

It didn't take long to see the town at the other side of the canyon; we just had to get there. At this point we stopped for lunch as I had some food and water the kids. The "stop for a photo excuse" was not working anymore ;)

As we were eating another group passed us. They had an adult guide that the kids knew. He offered me to join his group so that the children could go back to Quilotoa. This made sense so I accepted and paid the children the agreed price. They were surprised but happy at the same time and went back to town.

The slope was steep, dusty and slippery.

After 3 hours we reached the river at the bottom of the canyon. Here the bridge

Now it was time to go uphill. It took another 1,5 hours (4,5 in total as the kids told me).

Arriving to the Cloud Forest hostel, good feeling.

Sigchos was the target for the next day. It was a beautiful sunny morning. The path runs along the river at the bottom of the canyon so I decided to do it myself. The others in the group had hired a horse trip to a different place.

It was easy to follow the path as long as it existed. At one point the river had changed its course and there was no path. I had to climb up about 300m and use the road instead. This road took me to Sigchos, not before descending to the river's level before climbing up to my goal.

I was very tired when I reached Sigchos and you could see something unusual had happened there. The firework truck was standing at the front of the hotel I people were talking. At checkin the owner told me they had had a fire in the neighbored house that morning and he was very lucky as the hotel didn't suffer any damage.

The next morning the had to take his wife to the doctor in Latacunga and offered me a free ride. That worked perfectly and I collected the rest of my luggage from the hostel and took the bus to Baños. All muscles were soared, bathing at the hot springs sounded as an excellent idea.