The Quilotoa Loop

So after a quick stint in Quito I shot down to Latacunga with a German dude to hike the Quilotoa Loop. It begins in a low transit town called Latacunga where you catch buses to Zumbahua, Quilotoa, Chugchilan and Saquisli. This would turn out to be the most scenic part of the trip.

Quilotoa Crater:

After arriving in Latcunga me and the German tried to find a bus to Zumbahua/Quilotoa. Catching a bus in Ecuador is not quite the same as catching a bus in the US. The instant you walk out to the bus area you are barraged with people yelling at you to come on their bus. Half the time we said “Zumbahua ?” the porter nodded yes. After some deliberation and question asking we figured out the right bus and hopped on. On the bus we met a young English couple who later became our hiking crew. After arriving in Zumbahua we road on the back of a pick up truck to Quilotoa with some locals. It was awesome to get out of the bus, breath some fresh air and see the landscape.

Me and the Native

Quilotoa crater was awesome. IÂ´m imagining that its a smaller version of crater lake Oregon (12 years in Oregon never been to crater lake, 4 days in Ecuador I go to Quilotoa crater… go figure). The top of the crater is at roughly 4,000 meters above sea level. Thats pretty high if you donÂ´t know. We ended up staying at the Hostel Princess Toa. It looked great at first untill we discovered that there was no running water. Flushing the toilet consisted of grabing a bucket of water and dumping it into the toilet after you were done.

Quilotoa Crater

The next day, after much deliberation, we decided to hire a mule and hike to the town of Chugchilan rather than bus or truck. It was an amazing 12 km hike. First we hiked along the top of the crater which opened up great views. Then we desended into a picturesque valley to Chugchilan. It took us four and a half hours to walk 12 km…