We made the city of Latacunga our base for a couple of days. Latacunga doesn't have much to offer if it wasn't for its strategic location near the Quilotoa Loop and the Cotopaxi National Park. The city has been reconstructed a few times, the last time in 1877 when the Cotopaxi volcano erupted and covered it in lava.
Our first night was spent at a backpackers hostel (Café Hostal Tiana) - there is not a great choice of accommodation in this town and initially Tiana seemed like a good option. Even though t's a great place to meet people and fellow travellers, I was reminded why I'm not 20 y-o: no water AT ALL (not even cold), floorboards which were about to break and banging noises throughout the night... The craziest thing was that only round the corner we found the Hotel Central which was cheaper (18$ for a double room with bathroom), had a lovely lady host who always welcomed us with tea and coffee, and plenty of hot water (an important commodity in this country), so the second night we stayed there.
On Saturday we decided to head to the Laguna de Quilotoa, a stunning turquoise green volcanic-crater lake. Along the way we made a couple of stops, first at Pujilí and then at the Saturday market of Zumbahua (where we could have bought anything from fresh veg, fruit, chickens and many other animals - alive not dead).
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| Zumbahua market |
The lake itself is impressive, just the fact that it sits in the middle of a volcano crater is mind-blowing. Fit walkers can walk the perimeter of the crater in about six hours. We decided to follow the path which leads down to the lake instead. It took us about half an hour to reach the bottom, but nearly an hour and a half to climb back up. Had I known the effort it required, I might have been tempted to employ the services of one of the donkeys we got offered (5$ - 8$ depending on how good you are at bartering)!!
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| Laguna Quilotoa |
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