#sigchos

[danilo-uvidia]

🥰 Valora el trabajo del campesino, paga lo justo al agricultor, entre todos es posible un mejor Ecuador. . . . . . 😊 #Salcedo #Latacunga #Pangua #Saquisili #Sigchos #LaMana #Pujili #Cotopaxi #Ecuador. #Trabajo #campo #agricultura https://www.instagram.com/p/CSue8QMHrMo/?utm_medium=tumblr

[halenabohs]

Quilotoa Loop day 1

Today was by far the most incredible day we've had in Ecuador. It was our first day of the Quilotoa Loop, so we left our hostel in Latacunga around 9 after a simple but filling breakfast and took the bus to Sigchos, a town about two hours outside of Latacunga. 

The bus ride itself, through rural highland filled with cliffs, rivers, small farms, and wilderness, was breathtaking. To say we were underprepared might be an understatement, as we decided to actually do this trek, which will take up three days and two nights of our trip, yesterday afternoon when we accidentally ended up with some free time to research. Anyways, we had neither a map nor a clear set of directions, so we were lucky to run into some Brits who had a map and step-by-step directions for the first leg of the hike. After they allowed us to photograph their directions, we embarked on the 14km (about 9 mile) journey. 

 It is impossible to convey the first hour or so of our hike -- we were absolutely awestruck, commenting on the beauty of the landscape literally every minute. We often had 180-degree views, so it was overwhelming just trying to take everything in. In addition to us dawdling to photograph and state at the sights, we were also hiking at nearly 10,000 feet, a new and breathtaking (literally) experience, which made the 14km journey take about 3 hours in total, an average of about 3 miles per hour in US terms. 

Our hostel for the first night was Llullu Llama, a beautiful mountain cottage with comfortable beds, a three course dinner, full breakfast, and a porch with a beautiful view over the valley.

[round-about]

Friendly Sheep, Ecuador

[velosophics]

Volcano Cotopaxi and Quilotoa Lagoon

Finally: bikes packed again, a bit heavier than before, but back on the road... The way out of Quito was not too easy, another 25 km through bad traffic, so lunch still in the city! But then it was a great feeling to leave this huge urban area behind us and feel so free again! Like always it started raining after a sunny morning, that day already at 1 pm! So we just cycled another two hours on the Panam to Machachi and received once again a warm welcome at the firemen station. The firemen gave us matresses to make ourselves comfy in the gym room and we went out for an endless food tasting walk through town that evening: some cow claw soup, passion fruit cream, fried raised pastry in honey and finally again grilled meats, potatoes and salads - one day on the bike again and not being able to satisfy Hardy´s appetite! So, we were well prepared for the Cotopaxi volcano climb up the next morning. We started in beautiful sunny morning fresh air, it became nearly hot, a feeling quite rare in the last weeks. Starting the climb up on 12 km cobblestone it got even hotter. The front wheel hopping over the stones often was uncontrollable and made us stop again and again. Even Hardy who always stays on his bike no matter how steep it is had to get off and push. Ja, this was quite demanding. And of course, it started raining at noon which made it even harder on the slippery stones. We kept on for two hours as there was nothing for shelter anyway... But the hunger stopped us, we needed some of our peanut butter and empanadas con ceso... As a perfect timing it stopped raining and behind the next curve Cotopaxi with its snow-covered top appeared in its full glory. What a sight! With renewed energy we kept on and suddenly it was so much fun. Alpacas grazed along the way and wild horses were galopping in some distance in front of the volcano. This was exactly how we wished it to be! Now all we wanted was a camping spot just as fine. Actually, that was not too difficult on this endless open space on 3.800m. It was the earliest we ever put our tent up, luckily, before it started raining again. We cuddled ourselves in the sleeping bags to get warm, in a rain break we went out to cook a soup and then watched a movie in the tent... this is how nice camping can be! Next morning we had to pack everything wet, went on cycling a bit through the national park before nearly flying down on a brand new road with a bike lane to Lasso. In Lasso it was the first time the firemen refused to host us, so we camped at a Hospedaje. Next morning: heavy rain! Much more than before! Should we really go on the back road Quilotoa loop in these conditions?? We decided for yes! Bought some new rubber work gloves and put some extra plastic sacks on as our jackets would not resist this rain. Even GoreTex does not live up to what it promises - after two hours in this rain, everything gets through! Well, three hours later, we were in the sun again and so happy we decided to come here. Beautiful views turned up and we enjoyed incredible downhills, too mean that we would have to climb it all up again into Sigchos in the evening. The last kilometers we accepted the offer of a friendly driver and jumped on his road works vehicle with another 30 workers, to avoid struggling into the night... Very dirty but happy we arrived in time in the nice little town up in the mountains. People look very different here in the remote areas than in the towns. The women are very colorfully dressed, different styles and colors are hip in different villages. Ecuador is famous for its hats, everybody is wearing one. The women, even very young ones carry their little children on the back, and all of them have very funny but nice red cheeks. In the park in Sigchos suddenly a young dog, some shephard mixture, ran into us, jumped up and up again and seemed so happy to see us! What was going wrong here? Normally, dogs do not like us cyclists at all, never ever one was so friendly to us! But with him it was directly mutual liking. He waited in front of our hotel and found us again the next morning. We called him Scrumpy, gave him the rest of our breakfast and he just kept on running with us all day long. We were not very fast on the dirt roads in the mountains, so it was not too hard for him. But again from noon onwards: only rain! We just didn´t want any more - no more self-torment! We stopped and stayed the night in a nice hostel room which was just too expensive for Ecuadorian conditions (12$ per person including dinner and breakfast) but warm and cosy. Next day we wanted to start early to arrive at the Quilotoa lagoon before the afternoon rain comes. A beautiful route through the mountains, enjoying it so much! Just hoped to arrive at Quilotoa without rain for a good view... That´s why we decided to take a short cut for the last 3 or 4 km: a new road, still under construction, quite steep but much shorter than the old road. The workers at the fork said we could cycle up without any problems... Hahaha - very funny! It was all rocky sand, the huge vehicles passed every few minutes and fogged us in dust, most of the time it was just impossible to drive. It took us about one and a half hours with really difficult pushing. Again and again we had severe problems breathing properly in this altitude of 3.800m, air was cut off immeadiately and Lena nearly hyperventilated at one point... At the end of the construction, when the sand just got too deep, finally some other workers helped us pushing - gracias, muy amable! One more time it was worth the torment: The Quilotoa lagoon is breathtaking! And no rain for the whole day! After Hardy took thousands of pictures we looked for a nice camping spot for quite a while but would not find any flat or big enough space on the crater rim. The Quilotoa village actually was a crappy touristic place that we not really wanted to support. Already on the way to Quilotoa which is a popular hiking area as well we were quite disappointed how tourism took away the real friendliness of the indigenous. Conversation and especially taking pictures was all about money - sad, sad, sad. Could not remember when we experienced it like that before. When we arrived at the lagoon they got even crazy: "No, it is forbidden to go here with the bike", "Why? Do we bother anybody? No, we are alone here!" "It is because of the wooden floor... But do you need a room?" Nice welcome, we want to go back to Colombia! After we checked nearly every accomodation in this crappy village, we decided: if we are spending money here, then it has to be for the nicest and friendliest! It got really cold that night, we were happy about the comfy and warm bed and the little fireplace next to it... how romantic!