Quilatoa Loop

Next stop Quito, to stock up on hiking gear after learning our lesson at cotapaxi. Also i bought a new lumex after my old casio camera suddenly died on me  Also managed to sneek in a night in a salsateca to get my salsa fix, followed by the usual consequences of having to get up to catch a bus having had 3 hours sleep. Quilatoa is a beautiful crater lake up in the andes. We stayed with an indegenous family then spent the next 3 days hiking between villages around the loop – first day down to the lake and on to Chugchilan, Next day onto ilinizi, then final day to sigchos. 3 days of 7-8hours trekking through the andes with no guide other than lonley planet inaccurate descriptions of the paths, and inevitabley losing the route and having to whistle over to some farmers and indigenous folk every now and again (good job beth can do that whistle thing or we´d still be lost) and fight off aggressive farm dogs with stones, cross dodgy 1-log bridges over fast flowing rivers (then having to cross back realising we´d gone wrong) and having to tackel tiny footpaths which carve their way around steep mountains over sheer drops down to certain doom. Occassionally stumbling accross and 80 year old Quetchua farmer lady with no teeth who giggles a lot and manages to mumble a few spanish words saying she´s minding the cows. No retirement out here.