Ecuador - Cuenca, Quilotoa, Quito & The Middle of The Earth

Ecuador was the final stop on our overland swipe across the middle of South America before heading south to Chile. The Peru/Ecuador border was listed as the ‘most corrupt border crossing in South America’ by our guidebook and multiple stories from travelers online had confirmed this statement. We arrived by bus with some nervousness but were processed and granted entry into Ecuador with nothing more than a couple of questions.

From the border we headed north 6 hours to the historic town of Cuenca. We spent 3 nights resting (I was fighting off food poisoning, likely a result of bad water used to make coffee as Colleen was untouched) and wandering narrow cobblestone streets rimmed with colonial mansions and churches built by the colonial Spaniards beginning in the 16th century.

We left Cuenca appropriately rested for our next adventure, the Quilotoa Loop in central Ecuador. The Loop is a series of small Ecuadorian Andean villages connected by dirt roads and hiking trails. The appeal of the route is the opportunity to observe the rural indigenous people going about their traditional daily lives, working with livestock, tending fields and taking their produce to market. Plus the countryside has some amazing views. We caught a local bus from the regional hub of Latacunga and were surprised to find that we were the only foreigners aboard. Our counterparts on the bus would have been right at home in many African countries as they seemed to get enjoyment out of the overcrowded standing room only mode of transportation! About a mile outside of Latacunga we turned off the pavement and onto a bumpy dirt road that would be our entertainment for the next 4 hours as we wound our way around mountains, along steep cliffs and through picturesque valleys.

We arrived at our destination, the small village of Isinlivi and checked into our hostel. The establishment was said to be run by an English speaking Dutch couple but we were greeted at the door by a young local woman who turned out to be the hostel cook. She would be the only person we had interaction with (broken Spanish and hand gestures) during our stay. It turns out there were no other guests for the night and the owners were out of town. It was early afternoon so we headed out on a hike into the hills surrounding the village taking us up hillsides and across meadows before returning for a wonderful 4 course vegetarian meal included with our stay.

We studied some maps and notes from previous travelers the next morning and headed out on a hike to the village of Chugchilan, some 15+ kilometers away across the valley. The terrain was difficult and steep as we wandered down unmaintained paths and crossed log bridges over full streams. Unfortunately, we had a ’helper’ with us along the entire route. The hostel dog (actually more of a puppy) had taken it upon himself to head out of town with us. We discouraged him and chased him away in fear he would not find his way back home but it was to no avail. He was unshakable as he energetically followed us on our day long hike, getting dirtier and increasingly panicky along the way. We felt sorry for the guy but really had no option but to continue on our hike and hope he either would change his mind or we would find a passerby to lead him back to his village.

We arrived in Chugchilan in a late afternoon drizzle and the dog parted with us to introduce himself to some of the local dogs. We checked into a hostel, dried off and found our way to the common room where we huddled around a black stove and spent the evening comparing stories with fellow travelers.

We awoke early the next morning to a hearty breakfast provided by the hostel and hitched a ride on the back of a local pickup heading toward the highlight of the Loop, the Quilotoa Crater. The crater is actually an active volcano that is filled with iridescent blue water. It is absolutely stunning.. Most choose to view the crater from one of the cliffside hotels or by taking a hike down the steep slopes to the shore. Of course this was not enough for our hiking appetite so we decided to take on the full 8 mile hike around the crater rim. Well, we bit off more than we could chew and unfortunately did not realize it until we were on the opposite side of the crater in a dense fog. The rim trail actually takes an exhausting indirect route climbing and falling multiple times up and down the jagged cliffs of the crater. No step of the hike seems to be on solid ground as the brittle rock crumbles into sand with each step. We both swore that we had never had a more difficult day hike in our lives! 5 hours and only 8 miles later (plus detours and multiple slips and falls and a crazed dog that bit Colleen‘s shoe) we found ourselves wandering back onto the main road leading to/from the crater. As we were catching our breath we heard a loud booming horn in the distance which we recognized as a departing bus. Buses only visit the crater a couple times a day so we immediately began a fatigued run blindly in the foggy mist. We reached the bus just as it was pulling away and luckily it was direct back to Latacunga where we had stored our luggage during our 3 days of hiking.

From Latacunga we headed further north to the capital city of Quito to spend Christmas. Upon arriving at the Quito bus station we ran into acquaintances from our hiking who told us that our formal hostel had been informed that their dog was wandering around the village across the valley and that the owners were now actively looking for the dog (this put us a little at ease as by this point we felt as though we were responsible for making a dog homeless). Given the holiday season, we had booked ahead for three nights in Quito and quickly found ourselves at ease in the backpacker friendly ‘new’ part of town. We took day trips to ‘old town’ Quito and explored cathedrals, parks and the country’s colonial past. We climbed rickety steps to the top spire of the famed Basilica del Voto Nacional cathedral for some amazing views(they don’t worry too much about liability is this country) and made a trip to the main market where I sampled some delicious corvina (sea bass) receiving twice as much fish for 1/10 the cost of back home. We also made a side trip an hour north of town to the official site of the Equator where we took some token tourist photos and learned some interesting facts. Who knew that the earth had an ‘equatorial bulge’ that placed the earths surface at the equator a full 11 miles further from the center of the earth than the north and south poles? And who knew that because of this bulge that there are volcanoes in Ecuador that are nearly 2 miles closer to the moon than Mt Everest? Crazy stuff!

Our first two months in South America have been full of amazing experiences. This continent has intriguing and sometimes challenging sites and activities yet the countries maintain a friendliness and flexibility towards travelers allowing for amazing rewards if one puts in the effort. If this is any indication of what we have in store for our last two months in South America (and on the trip), we are in for an enjoyable finale.