More amazing quilatoa loop photos on here. Heres the dodgy 1-log bridge we had to cross twice
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106293&id=543366004&l=424c1
Friday, 13 March 2009
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.
After a couple of days of taking it easy we thought we should check out the national park itself. A swiss couple were having a go at the summit, so we decided to hitch a ride with them to the lagoon, the idea being to hike around the lagoon, see the beautiful snow capped volcanoe from the bottom, and then get a lift back to the main road to cathc a bus back to the farm. Their guide persuaded us it would be much more exiting to get to the refuge where hikers spend the night before attempting the summit at 1am the next morning, and perhaps see some glaciers. Also more chance of finding a lift back he said. For some inexlicable reason (perhaps the glorious weather down near the lagoon) we let ourselves get talked into this idea, only to suddenly find ourselves completely underdressed (beth in sandles and socks, neither of us in waterproof trousers) in a blizzard at some 4000km altitude. One of those moments of slow panic / dread as everyone around us put on their full on cramp ons, snow gear and basically look like their about to tackel everest. We decided to sack off the stupid idea of going higher and seeing glaciers get to lower altitudes as fast as possible. Within a few minutes we were both freezing, cheeks burning, and to make it worse a couple of vehicles passed by and didn´t stop. One of those feelings of slow panic-dread and visions of it getting dark and us being lost, with little but a pack of peanuts in our bag, no map, no compass, having to camp overnight with no shelter, getting attacked by wild horses roaming the landscape or dying on route. Luckily within half an hour a car of sympathetic americans stopped who said we reminded them of their daughters and gave us a lift back to civilisation.
Couple of days in Otavalo and we decided we wanted to find a chilled out farm somehwere to spend a few days, get a routine, catch up on sleep and detox alter Colombia, do some yoga and drink herbal teas. We found a gorgeous little farm near Cotapaxi national park with a perfect barn to get the carpets out on for daily yoga practice. Friendly dogs and llamas, lots of clover and dandelions to pick and put in tea and open fire and guitar friendly vibes at night. Even had a jacuzzi in the back yard.
First stop, Otovalo market to stock up on al paca goods- jumper, poncho, socks, gloves, hats, jackets. So much colder in the andes than i´d realised, or maybe i was just thinking about the first carrebbean leg of the journey. Anyhow the al paca ponchos and pan pipes in otovalo really made us feel like we´d arrived in Ecuador. Even the night life was live pan pipe andes bands in indegenous gear and long hair. Very different feel from colombian hot Cali salsa. We decided to make a little trip to the animal market where all indegenous folk from surrounding villages decend every week with cows, pigs, gotas, sheep, chickens, guinea pigs, cats, dogs (BTW guinea pig is the nacional ecuadorian dish) i´ve stuck to my salad, crackers, sea food rice and lentils.
more photos on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106284&id=543366004&l=49319
Ecuador
So, we manager to cross the colombian ecuador border at night without any problems, lots of police presence and road blocas and convoys but i slept my way through it all luckily. More of a concerní was that beth had forgotten her yellow fever certificate and we weren´t sure she´d get through, but a bit of a flutter of those blue sparkly eyes at a the officials and we were through
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