Hostel-Hopping Quilatoa loop

Stunning, wonderful trip.

Quilatoa loop/circuit is a popular "eco" destination in ecuador due to lovely scenery and rural feel. Since we couldn't camp (no tent, stove etc) we decided to hike through the (isolated) center of the loops, while staying in hostels around the outside at nights. It was a bit of a logistical challenge, but absolutely worth it for the scenery and people we met, and the fact we didn't see another gringo the whole hike.

Day 1 started horribly after our worst overnight bus trip yet. We then caught another 3.5hr bus to Sigchos, at which time it started pouring. We were waiting for the (one daily) bus to Isinlivi, where our hike begins, for two hours before a guy very convincingly told us we missed it. He then flagged down a truck going to Isinlivi, and we hopped in the (uncovered) back, in the downpour. Not fun. Oh and then we stopped to help change a ladies tire (while the bus that we actually hadn't missed pulled past). We were miserably wet and filthy from the mud road.

Sounds like fun, eh?

No seriously, it got great then. We arrived soaking and grumpy in Isinlivi, a town of 40 families, to an eco-hostel which we had to ourselves (well, we shared with a crazy cat, lovely dog, pig and llama). We started a roaring fire and dried ourselves out. The lady prepared the most AMAZING dinner and breakfast. Breakfast here is inenvitably stale white rolls, sometimes jam if you're lucky. We had museli and pancakes and fresh juice and fruit salad and real yogurt and perculated coffee. If you've been here, you'll understand how special this is. Joy.


warming up with a tiger

View from the hostel compost toilet - it's in a greenhouse... fortunately without neighbours


Started off early the next day, following the rather crazy directions ("after the trail starts decending, listen for dogs barking. Walk across the field towards the sound, and through the eroded canyon")... which somehow were spot on. My favorite part was hanging with the kids when they got out of school around noon. Since schools are so distributed, many guys walk more than an hour each way to school, up rediculously steep hills. We'd walk together for a while, "chatting" in our horrible spanish. Well, actually we would huff and puff up the verticals, and they for some reason would run ten yards forward, then back to us with another excited "good afternoon", possibly encouraging us on?

Some photos of our walks,

neat erosion tunnels

a quilatoa traffic jam

Some of the kids we befriended. These guys were great.


Second day was back near the road so we didn't get to interact with the people as well, which is probably good as we went from 2600 to 3800m at the crater rim, and were breathing hard. We were happy to finally see the crater!

One of many uphills

Yup, more up. in deep sand. a long ways. Exhausted happy.


Finally at the top

Kids walking home along the crater



Looking over the posts, I'm sensing a theme here.
1. We like animals
2. We are always wearing the same clothes
3. We like to eat

So on the same note... have I mentioned we love the fruit? Available everywhere, and picked when it's ripe. Delicious. Here I am picking out some stawbs in Cuenca.

Galapagos

Super week in Galapagos! We ended up flying over and exploring a bit on our own before finalizing a tour on a super-lovely catamaran for four days.

Being on our own was great as we made buddies with some guys doing research at the Darwin center, and they showed us around and introduced us to the tortoises. The one guy Oscar works with the giant tortoises and they respond to him individually by name, heaving up their 250lb shell and sticking their necks up for the watermelon they apparently adore. I felt horrible we didn't have anything for him.

Tortoise "louie" asking for his watermelon at the Darwin center.

Spent the next morning swimming in Tortuga bay with the marine iguanas, lovely beach.

Then we went to another island, San Cristobel, in a small transit boat in super choppy oceans. We were packed like sardines even before the back deck people were soaked... after they joined us 20 passengers in the humid diesel and vomit fumes of the (labelled) 16-passenger room, it became a long three hours. I am moderately sea-sensitive and felt like crap. It was amazing to see Simon peacefully reading surrounded by locals violently retching. Glad that was over.

Miserable boat ride on the small transit boat... this was even before the back deck passengers joined us! Believe it or not, I felt worse than I looked

That convinced us that to see the islands we were going to join a cuise boat, and luck has it we found a good last minute deal on a four-day cruise leaving the next day! We enjoyed a quiet night although nearly kicked a sea-lion sleeping on our way to dinner.

Ah! Much better. Our fancy boat center back, the Millenium. Dive-bombing birds in front.


The cruise was super. We were on a lovely boat with a good group, and it was great to not think and just follow the itinerary. We had some great swims and snorkels and I was grateful for Simon - he has very keen eyes underwater and I saw much more stuff when he was around. While the fish, sharks and eels were cool, the penguin and sealions took the cake since they were actually playing with us for a long time, showing off how quickly they could zip past and around you. Amazing considering how awkward they are on land! Unfortunately no underwater camera, so only the boring above surface lazy stuff to see.

Lots of pics:

Morning




Cuddles


suckling

time out

Got to see hundreds of winged albatross on the island where they come to nest.



Swimming iguanas...

three wise men


almost there...

unimpressed


sunning






Back in Guyanquil, known for its crab, we enjoyed our banana soup, fresh salsa and smash-your-own crab. I had to ask for extra bibs. Happy Tessa.



Off to Cuenca tomorrow.

Magnificent Machu Picchu

We made it to Peru. Yes, that was 14-15 days ago and we apologize for the delay in updating. We are though proud to say the last couple weeks have been jammed packed. We're in Guayaquil, Ecuador now after 52 hours on busses. After our Machu Picchu trek we made a run for the border and we're thinking we've successfully made it in time to board a Galapagos Islands boat! We're flying to the main island tomorrow so please keep your fingers crossed that we find a super-deal on a boat.

This is the Machu Pichu update (we did the Salkantay trail, 5 days & 4 nights). What a super time and such a great group.

First though we were in Cusco for a couple days organizing things. Very touristy and many gringos.

S in front of one of the old churches in the main square, Cusco, Peru.

Tess loved the Cusco market, she bought all kinds of fruits and we especially enjoyed the knawing on the sugar cane.

We were fortunate to partake in a local fiesta. It was a Corpus Christi celebration, much dancing, statues parading, and 1000's of people.

Went on a tour including some local traditional textiles industry where they show how they make wool. The funny part was when the lady's cell phone went off:)

But, of course the highlight of our time in Peru was our trek to Machu Picchu! We did an alternative Inka trail called Salkantay, which was lovely- wildly changing scenery and with v. few people on it.

And, we were off . . . .


Here's our group, there were 10 of us - 2 Germans, 3 from Holland, 2 Americans, one woman from France and of course Tess & I.

Our fearless leaders were our cook Davian (below left), his assistant Adrian who did everything else and the jefe Havier (pic of him and I below)

The below pic is an idea of the terrain on Day 1. It was lovely and sunny.

Tess of course found some furry friends along the way!
Day 1 continued with a view of the mountain we'd have to cross the next day. We were told it was going to go from sunny to very cold. Here's night 1's camping spot - freezing. We were at approx. 3900m about 14000 feet.



June 1st - The best birthday treat I could have ever had! In the hills with my beautiful Tess and two very friendly tigers with loud engines!

Day 2 on the trail, definitely no sunshine. Very cold and straight up - tough hiking.

Finally at the top and ready to head down the other side. Yes, that's snow falling in the picture, it got pretty thick at one point (too cold to stop!)


It was a treat to get out of the cold and back into the sunny valley on the other side of the mountain.

Day 2's camp site. A treat to get to.

We were extremely happy to find a furry purring friend at the 2nd camp site!

Most mornings we were woken at 5 with a cup of coca tea ready for us. It was excellent to roll into camp and be fast asleep just after 8pm. Day 3's terrain was through jungle like conditions but thankfully flat. Each day we walked about 7-8 hours.

The jungle type conditions were perfect for all types of fruits and coffee trees. We picked granadillas as we walked! Tess below drooling over coffee beans baking in the sun.

Day 3's camp site was a treat as there were hot springs a short ways away. We all enjoyed a wash.

The mosquitos love Tess! Her legs are still covered in bites. (tess-COVERED! Buggers!)

Day 4 was very hot. MP in background (up!)

Most of the hike on the 4th day was along train tracks.

Up at 4am so to climb to the top of Machu Picchu to catch the sunrise. Beautiful.

Machu Picchu really is stunning! (tess - simon went a bit nuts with photos...)















What an excellent hike. Hopefully our next update will be about our time in Galapagos - we're off tomorrow!

Take care.