The Quilotoa Loop: Hiking between Andean Villages

The Quilotoa Loop

‘Quilotoa Loop’ is the name given to a multi-day trip from village to village in the Ecuadorian Andes. It rewards those who take the sketchy bus rides and complete the hikes with breathtaking views of a volcanic crater lake and a glimpse of everyday life in Ecuador’s highland villages. Thinking that this would be good cardiovascular training and acclimatization for a couple of high altitude climbs I had planned, I left Quito on February 18^th for Latacunga, which was where I’d begin the loop.

City of Latacunga & the start of the loop

The first leg of the journey involved a three-hour bus ride to Isinliví. The driver, who was preoccupied with his novia and phone as he negotiated the numerous switchbacks cut into the mountainsides, coupled with the numerous crucifixes lining the road, put us on edge the whole way. But we made it to the sleepy village of Isinliví in one piece. The cobble-stone streets were empty. There were no pubs or restaurants, nor were there grocery stores. There was one woman in town with internet connection who was willing to share it, but supposedly it wasn’t strong enough to open your e-mail. Underscoring the quaint nature of Isinliví was a map of the town found at Hostal Llullu Llama, in which every home was labeled with titles such as the ‘Italians’, after the Italian expats who made wooden furniture, and ‘Helena’s Mum’, who I could only guess was the mother of some lady named Helena…

The sleepy town of Isinlivií

Map of Isinliví

Hostal Llullu Llama

The next day we hiked to Chugchilan. The trail wasn’t physically challenging, but it was a challenge to navigate; the trail was not only used to connect the towns of Isinliví and Chugchilan, but also had numerous branches used by the locals to get to their homes and farms. We climbed over mountains, followed rivers, crossed pastures and encountered a couple of tiny towns along the way. Chugchilan was a little bit more lively than Isinliví and so I decided to see what was around. Walking down the street I noticed a large pig struggling in an alleyway and what I thought looked like blood spilling down the cement walkway. As I neared this same alleyway on my way back to Hostal Cloud Forest I noticed the scent of burning hair. I had no doubt about it, the pig was being slaughtered. I explained to the family that I’ve never seen an animal being butchered and I asked if I could come in to watch, with which they had no problem.

Hiking through pastures on the way to Chugchilan

Small Andean village on the way to Chugchilan

Andean Escuela

Chugchilan

The hike to Quilotoa proved tougher than we had anticipated. After hiking for a few hours and gaining several hundred metres of elevation we arrived to the rim of Volcán Quilotoa. The elevation gain put us right in the clouds and, unfortunately, we didn’t have the best view of the crater lake. We decided to head into town to spend the night at Hosteria Alpaca Quilotoa and save the hike around the rim of the volcano for the next morning when there would be better visibility. But we made a wrong turn; we didn’t read the full instructions and instead of staying within the crater, we descended the outside. There were a few clues that should’ve put us back on the right track: first, the trail we were taking was full of switchbacks and our map showed a straight trail to Quilotoa; second, we passed a sign for Quilotoa indicating that it was 3.5 km in the opposite direction; and, finally, we passed a sign for Guayama San Pedro, a town we had passed a couple of hours earlier. Due to the poor visibility brought on by the clouds, it took us an hour to realize we had come down the same route we had ascended! Fortunately, by the time we climbed back up to the volcano the clouds had somewhat cleared and we had a great view of the lake.

Laguna Quilotoa

Poor visibility at Volcán Quilotoa

Crater lake of Volcán Quilotoa

The final stretch of the Quilotoa Loop involved a bus ride back to Latacunga. We got a ride to Zumbahua from which we could catch a bus. We arrived right as they were loading up sheep on the roof of the bus. As we started driving along the winding roads we could hear the steps of the sheep as they tried to maintain their balance, but they couldn't always do so...

Loading up some extra passengers on the roof

Sharp turn

Hiking from Andean village to Andean village along the Quilotoa Loop proved to be a great experience. I had a chance to interact with the locals, got a glimpse of everyday life in the Ecuadorian highlands, and saw some beautiful views along the way. I can only hope that the exercise and acclimatization also helps me in my attempts at the summits of the Ilinizas and Cotopaxi next week.