Day 7: Quilotoa

Today is our last day of the first part of our trip – the highlands. After a delicious breakfast of homemade yogurt, banana pancakes, and French toast, we checked out of Hacienda El Porvenir.

Last breakfast at Hacienda del Volcan

Driver of the day – Jeicon

Our main stop for the day is Quilotoa Lake, which is about a three hour drive away. Jeicon was our driver today, and he was ready for us at 8:15. To no one’s surprise, Jo slept nearly the entire time. We drove through Zumbahua within the Cotopaxi province, one of the more traditional (AKA poor) areas.

On the road again

Cotopaxi peaking out above the clouds

Farming communities

We stopped at an art gallery of painter who supplied the art at Hacienda El Porvenir, Alfredo Toaquiza.

The inaugurationof President Rafael Correa Delgado in 2007

Delgado was champion of the people and pro military walking dogs

We arrived in Quilotoa village at about 11:15 and got ourselves ready for a short, but steep hike. Quilotoa lake is a three kilometer wide crater lake formed when the volcano erupted and collapsed about 800 years ago. We started at the top at about 12,760 feet and gorgeous overhead views.

Route 3, here we come!

View from above

We walked down a sandy, rocky path for about 40 minutes to 11,550 feet and the lake shore.

Matt is in a selfie that he didn’t take!

Some steep sections

Hiking down

When we made it to the bottom, we took some time to relax and take pictures before heading back up. Since the lake has no drainage (being a crater in a volcano and all) and the only water added to the lake is from rain, it is not advisable to go swimming. But if you do, legend says you will have only daughters since the crater is also known as Princess Toa’s Lake. Hopefully the group of 20ish year olds we saw swimming will get daughters, not dysentery.

Welcome to Lake Quilotoa

Questionable yellow bacteria?

The water is OK for the mules, I guess?

The hike back up was a bit more of a cardiac challenge than the way down. We took breaks when needed, but made it to the top in good time (a bit less than an hour). We were rewarded with a tasty box lunch from Hacienda El Porvenir that we ate while enjoying the view of the crater.

Making our way back up

Smoky the bear knock-off

From there, the last thing to do was make it to the Wyndham airport hotel. Quilotoa is south of Cotopaxi, which is south of Quito, so the drive took about four hours. Jo, again, fell asleep so has no idea what towns we drove through or what the scenery was like.

Harvesting season

We dropped off Santiago near his house along the way (we’ll see him again on Wednesday) and continued on to the airport. After checking in, we used our free welcome drink and appetizer for dinner. We spent the rest of the night organizing our bags for Galapagos. One large bag each will stay here at the hotel. We can take a total of 25 pounds each in a checked bag and a small carry on for the inter island flights, so we have to be selective about what we bring.