Laguna de Quilotoa

 

 

This is Laguna de Quilotoa, a pretty awesome crater lake, 250m deep which last erupted 800 years ago. I arrived here after spending a few average days in the river towns of Misahualli and Banos from the Amazon. I wanted to see the lake first hand after seeing some impressive photos and to get some hiking and altitude acclimatization in for a volcano hike the following week. The steep isolated ascent from the highway to the lake at 3,900 m.a.s.l was pretty cool through the small Andean hillside villages as the fresh winds became colder by the minute.

 

 

  

 

 

 

I met a few travelers on arrival, who I spent the next few days with. We hiked down to the still waters at the lakes surface from the town and back up the first afternoon.

 

 

 

The following morning with better weather conditions we hiked the rim in four hours ascending and descending the dirt tracks, watching the colour of the water changing as the clouds and sun moved across it.

 

 

Local Andean communities, always in hats and seeming to suffer little from the harsh and cold climate.

 

 

I met Andi and Ellen, a lovely New Zealand couple here on the ride up to Quilotoa. They were riding south from Alaska at a slow pace and had a lot of stories to share. We rode on together after the lake, only for a day unfortunately as I was keen to hike up a mountain.

Breaks in the countryside, all the time in the world

 

 

 Central Ecuador's flowing countryside