It´s been a tiring first week and Charlotte and I have packed a lot in! We´ve explored Quito, been to some thermal baths, climbed to the top of a Church, seen the biggest market in Ecuador and been trekking around a crater lake.
Quito is the captial of Ecuador and the ´must see´ area is Old Town which, unsurpisingly, contains the more historical and colonial buildings. It´s a lovely place to walk around and get a feel for the place. It´s full of Churches and one of the most famous is the Basilica del Voto Nacional. What attracted us to this particular Church (there are dozens) was the opportunity to climb all the way to the top to get a fantastic view of Quito. To get there you went along a bridge (above the ceiling to the main chapel, so were a loft would be) and then up a series of ladders which, at that height, seemed a bit nerve racking and we were at the top. The view of Quito was stunning. It was far bigger than I first expected and it sprawls along the valley that it´s in. The sun was shining and it was well worth climbing up the ladders to see!
After our walk around Quito we decided to try the thermal baths for relaxation. And they were exactly that. Set a couple of hours outside of Quito they are in the middle of the Andean hillside and the scenery is gorgeous. Sitting in warm springs while looking at the green hillside through the steam is definetly worth travelling on a bus for! There were different temperatures and we made our way up to the hottest one. We even tried the freezing cold one which is suprisingly refreshing. So much so we tried it twice. And then got some warm coffee.
Next on our trip was the market Otavalo, which the Lonely Planet made out to be fantastic. It did sell lots of things, all in bright colours and very touristy. However, as neither of us like shopping and didn´t want to carry too much stuff around we didn´t spend as long at the market as most. We did find what we wanted though and then have some cake. Banana cake with ice cream. Well worth the trip.
After our many days on buses visiting places we decided to go for a very short trek. It started at a town called Latacunga, which is the beginning of what is known as the Quilotoa loop. Here we met a Aussie and American who told us about their plans to hike around the Quilotoa loop. And we decided to copy.
From Latacunga we got a bus to where we would begin the trek and stayed there over night. Unfortunately I must have picked up something there and woke early in the morning feeling ill. However, once it was out of my system I was fine and I was able to trek that day, although probably finding it a bit more difficult than normal and was very tired by the time we got the the next town!
However, the second (and last) day we trekked around the crater lake at Quilotoa, which the loop is named after and (shockingly) is the main point of the trek. The lake is amazing. It´s bright blue and completely enclosed by the sides of the crater which rise quite steeply from the lake. It´s breath-taking when you first see it. Half way around it still looks spectacular but you don´t appreciate it quite as much... The view on the other side is also beautiful though. The Andean countryside is smaller hills between the bigger ones with fields of both green and yellow, which the sunlight catches and really highlights. The people that live in the houses are so remote from everything, it´s something that you can´t see in England. Such a large stretch of land with so few people. The view encouraged the climbing up some of the ´hills´around the crater. ´Rim´implies it to be relatively flat. Don´t let that fool you.
We are now in Baños, which is a very touristy town and we´re looking forward to spending a few days here. From just walking round the shops I´ve just seen a man making a button which he gave to me. He made if from scratch and it took him less than 3 minutes, it just shows the generosity of the people here.
Hope all´s well back in England and that´s is sunny and bright there.
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