Believe it or not, a couple thousand
kilometers of cycling does not prepare the body for a backpacking mission. As
they say “you’re using different muscles”. Despite the stiff back, calves and
thighs in the morning (OK, and a couple blisters on the feet), it was a great
change of pace and scenery. The mission started with a 1.5-hr bus ride south of
Quito to the town of Latacunga – a good base for exploring the Central
Highlands. As an aside, buses here are insanely cheap (about $1 an hour; do the
math, the bus to Latacunga costs $1.50), and amazingly comfortable and efficient.
The days of the chicken bus are over (here at least).
From Latacunga it was another 2-hr bus
ride through the mountains to a collection of houses and guesthouses called
Quilotoa – aptly named for its location right on the rim of the Quilotoa
Caldera, a massive (3-km diameter) lake-filled volcano crater perched high in the
Andes. Upon our first views of the crater, we both decided it is one of those
places where photos in guidebooks don’t come close to capturing the moment. It
really is spectacular and worth every effort to get there. We stayed until the
sun went down, at which time the temps plummeted to well below what we were
dressed for. At 3900 m, Quilotoa is a cool place most of the time, and
downright freezing at night – definitely down jacket weather (which we have, so
all good).
Our night at the Hostal Alpaca was nice
and cozy – huge down duvets, and, woodstoves in every room. Nice! We got
that baby cranking! Even Amy was warm...a rarity these days. Although, neither
of us slept well due to the altitude. I had a headache all night (a symptom of
altitude sickness) which made me a bit nervous (flashbacks to Lhasa, for those of
you who know that story). But, a couple of ibuprofen in the morning, followed
by hiking down in elevation (to our next destination) the next day did the
trick. Thankfully, there are no further elevation-related issues to report.
In the morning we had a spectacular hike
around the crater. We won the weather lottery and had incredible 360-degree
views (although it was insanely windy). We had heard reports from other
travellers of being up in the fog for days and basically seeing only their
feet, so we were happy about that. From the crater it was down, up, and through
the hills for 3 days of village to village hiking – very reminiscent of
trekking in Nepal. That could be one of the most unique and enjoyable
experiences on the planet (other than cycle touring of course): self-sufficient
hiking through remote communities in the far corners of the planet. Although
not entirely roadless in this case, we might have seen 3 vehicles in 3 days
along the way. The highlight of such an activity is simply experiencing the
small villages and people along the way living their lives and going through
their daily routines. That feeling of being an alien from another planet –
while standing in our Smith sunglasses and gortex jackets beside a little old lady
from the 15th century – never goes away.
Accom along the way was surprisingly great.
Ecuadorians seem to have figured out the hostel thing and layout clean comfortable
spaces with good food. And cheap. $12 pp including dinner and breakfast. It’s kind of weird being in the middle of
nowhere and enjoying a blasting hot shower, warm comfy beds, and home-cooked
meals. But we’re not complaining, we’ll take it!
Interestingly, despite the area’s huge
potential for more of this kind of “eco-tourism” (for lack of a better term), there
is no map and only the occasional signage along trails. Armed with only text
descriptions (e.g., “find the trail on the right going up the hill”) and
hand-scrawled not-to-scale maps, finding your way around is the challenge. The
dinner table conversation with other travellers was mostly about who got the
most lost during the day. In a hilarious story, a French couple described to us
how they were tailing (i.e., following at a distance) a group of Germans who
had hired a local guide. Assuming they could just follow along on auto-pilot,
they were surprised when the guide backtracked towards them at one point to ask
them if they had a map. The entire crew was lost! They all made it eventually
though and we laughed about that over dinner. We’re happy to report that we
didn’t get lost that day, and thereby gloriously protected the Canadian image of
rugged pioneers of the wilderness among all the Euros.
So we’re now back in Quito for a couple
days to regroup. As mentioned previously, our bikes and most of our gear have
been tucked away for the past week. Today we put everything back together and
get ready for tomorrow’s ride towards the coast. Should be an exciting ride
going from 3000 m to sea level in a span of about 50 kms! Ahhh, we can feel
that hot moist tropical air already....more from the coast soon.
Believe it or not, a couple thousand
kilometers of cycling does not prepare the body for a backpacking mission. As
they say “you’re using different muscles”. Despite the stiff back, calves and
thighs in the morning (OK, and a couple blisters on the feet), it was a great
change of pace and scenery. The mission started with a 1.5-hr bus ride south of
Quito to the town of Latacunga – a good base for exploring the Central
Highlands. As an aside, buses here are insanely cheap (about $1 an hour; do the
math, the bus to Latacunga costs $1.50), and amazingly comfortable and efficient.
The days of the chicken bus are over (here at least).
From Latacunga it was another 2-hr bus
ride through the mountains to a collection of houses and guesthouses called
Quilotoa – aptly named for its location right on the rim of the Quilotoa
Caldera, a massive (3-km diameter) lake-filled volcano crater perched high in the
Andes. Upon our first views of the crater, we both decided it is one of those
places where photos in guidebooks don’t come close to capturing the moment. It
really is spectacular and worth every effort to get there. We stayed until the
sun went down, at which time the temps plummeted to well below what we were
dressed for. At 3900 m, Quilotoa is a cool place most of the time, and
downright freezing at night – definitely down jacket weather (which we have, so
all good). 
Our night at the Hostal Alpaca was nice
and cozy – huge down duvets, and, woodstoves in every room. Nice! We got
that baby cranking! Even Amy was warm...a rarity these days. Although, neither
of us slept well due to the altitude. I had a headache all night (a symptom of
altitude sickness) which made me a bit nervous (flashbacks to Lhasa, for those of
you who know that story). But, a couple of ibuprofen in the morning, followed
by hiking down in elevation (to our next destination) the next day did the
trick. Thankfully, there are no further elevation-related issues to report.
In the morning we had a spectacular hike
around the crater. We won the weather lottery and had incredible 360-degree
views (although it was insanely windy). We had heard reports from other
travellers of being up in the fog for days and basically seeing only their
feet, so we were happy about that. From the crater it was down, up, and through
the hills for 3 days of village to village hiking – very reminiscent of
trekking in Nepal. That could be one of the most unique and enjoyable
experiences on the planet (other than cycle touring of course): self-sufficient
hiking through remote communities in the far corners of the planet. Although
not entirely roadless in this case, we might have seen 3 vehicles in 3 days
along the way. The highlight of such an activity is simply experiencing the
small villages and people along the way living their lives and going through
their daily routines. That feeling of being an alien from another planet –
while standing in our Smith sunglasses and gortex jackets beside a little old lady
from the 15th century – never goes away.
Accom along the way was surprisingly great.
Ecuadorians seem to have figured out the hostel thing and layout clean comfortable
spaces with good food. And cheap. $12 pp including dinner and breakfast. It’s kind of weird being in the middle of
nowhere and enjoying a blasting hot shower, warm comfy beds, and home-cooked
meals. But we’re not complaining, we’ll take it! 
Interestingly, despite the area’s huge
potential for more of this kind of “eco-tourism” (for lack of a better term), there
is no map and only the occasional signage along trails. Armed with only text
descriptions (e.g., “find the trail on the right going up the hill”) and
hand-scrawled not-to-scale maps, finding your way around is the challenge. The
dinner table conversation with other travellers was mostly about who got the
most lost during the day. In a hilarious story, a French couple described to us
how they were tailing (i.e., following at a distance) a group of Germans who
had hired a local guide. Assuming they could just follow along on auto-pilot,
they were surprised when the guide backtracked towards them at one point to ask
them if they had a map. The entire crew was lost! They all made it eventually
though and we laughed about that over dinner. We’re happy to report that we
didn’t get lost that day, and thereby gloriously protected the Canadian image of
rugged pioneers of the wilderness among all the Euros.
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