Laguna Quilotoa

From Cotopaxi a group of us decided to head to Quilotoa to see the lake. There wasn't enough time for us to hike around the Quilotoa loop as this normally takes a minimum of 3 days, however a hike around the lake sounded good, so we headed to Latacunga to catch the bus to Quilotoa.

The bus bit was easy and when we arrived at Quilotoa we dove into the first hostel we saw from the Lonely Planet. Apart from the fact it was raining I'm not sure why... We ended up paying $20 a night including dinner and brekkie for the coldest place I've ever stayed in! We were huddled around the stove for most of the afternoon, whilst the roof leaked under the rain. At least we had wood fired stoves in the bedrooms - they eventually got toasty! 

FYI - don't just stop at the first place by the gate 'Alpacka Hostel' - if you continue to the mirador there are toastier places with the same dinner/ brekkie deal for just $15 and everything in Ecuador can be bargained!

A few of us ventured out to see if we could see the Laguna through the clouds

This was probably the best shot I got

Then the clouds descended again and it was just mist in the background of our selfie!

We took refuge in a restaurant to warm up and grab lunch & hot drinks - the hot chocolate appeared to be made with strawberry syrup which was a little weird, but I still drank it!

For the rest of the afternoon I watched a film whilst snuggled up with Pierre Marc and Chloe to try and keep warm. Poor Chloe wasn't feeling too good so we got our wood stove lit early. It was an early night as there wasn't too much to do in Quilotoa and we wanted to be up early in case the weather was better in the morning.

Whilst it wasn't great at 6am when Deana got up it did start clearing after breakfast. I overheard a conversation about buses in the afternoon so our aim was to walk around the lake and be back for the 3pm bus.

The guidelines in the guide book said the hike should take between 4 and 6 hours, but with our deadline 6 was the maximum we could take else we'd be stuck in Quilotoa until 5am the next day! (That's if we depended on public transport - there's always someone willing to take you for an additional price!)

The day started out cold and we were well wrapped up, but with the sun trying to get through and a few steep climbs we were soon warmed up.

At the start of the hike

A bit further around - with the vivid colour setting on my camera. The lake was the most amazing aquamarine colour with neon highlights around the shallows. This is the result of dissolved minerals - the water is very alkaline. Quilotoa Laguna is formed from a volcanic crater than has filled with water since it stopped being active. 

The path took us through throngs of wildflowers - very pretty!

Selfie about 5th of the way around just before we started to tackle the largest incline!

Farmers hut - ripe for development (hey Dad?!)

View of the countryside around the lake 

At the top of the highest point & just a little sweaty!

Jumping for joy at halfway round

When the sun comes out you don't need the filter on the camera!

We ran into cows, sheep and horses - pretty much all of the slopes around the lake are farmed.

We did the hike in 4.5 hours which I was very proud of - at the altitude this was an achievement! This left us with time for lunch before getting the bus and heading back to Latacunga. As I didn't need to be in Quito til Monday I decided to stop in Latacunga and spend a night with Alanah and Ben in the hostel recovering from the hike! 

We stayed in Hostel Tiana which was well organised to support people hiking the full 3 day loop, although my old guide book had the wrong address (they must have moved locations in the last few years - always check online!)