Leaving Mindo behind proved to be a more slightly challenging endeavor than anticipated. With (seemingly) nonexistent bus schedules, unmarked bus stops, and slight tummy issues it took us three attempts to make it on a bus. But alas we indeed made it to Latacunga! We’d be lying if we pretended we weren’t intimated by this city upon arrival. It was dark and the city was eerily empty. With morning, the city came alive and the streets were bursting with people and vendors.
Prep Day in Latacunga
Ultimately, our main reason for being here was to get settled before embarking on the Quilotoa Loop, but we tried to make a day of it. Our main outing was visiting the mall which housed the local movie theater. We decided to have ourselves a Spanish cinema experience and see Alien: Romulus. This proved to be quite fun & the affordable popcorn was certainly an added bonus! Did we miss out on some details and context about character dynamics due to the langue barrier? For sure, but since the movie was so action-centered it was way easier to follow than expected. Halfway through we stopped realizing we couldn’t understand the dialogue and walked out of the theater forgetting we were in Ecuador. New goal unlocked: try to see a movie in each place we visit. We capped off the night with some local fast food. As it turns out, malls and fast food seem to be pretty similar no matter where you are.
Quilotoa Loop: Day 1
The morning started with a delicious breakfast courtesy of Rosim Family Hostel (who also kindly stored our bags for free for 3 days). We caught a bus to Sigchos to get the trek through the highlands on a roll. Day 1 was supposed to be the easiest day with hiking a little over 6 miles and 1,800 feet gained. For unknown reasons this one felt like the hardest. The general vibe of the day was walking along farms and feeling like we were trespassing despite being on the trail. The cows did not want us crossing through their territory.
We were blown away by our hostel in the town of Isinliví. Llullu Llama Mountain Lodge was beautiful and hands down our favorite place we’ve stayed thus far. The views were stunning, the food was delicious, the spa was both needed and unexpected, and the free yoga was the cherry on top. This was our first truly communal stay with family dinner/breakfast and getting to play our beloved game Wingspan with new companions.
Quilotoa Loop: Day 2
With full bellies and hearts, we started our 7.5 mile hike to Chugchilán. This day was much more enjoyable with gorgeous wide open views that made each climb feel worth it. We stayed at what felt like the budget version of the night before (no complaints there!). Here we made our own yoga class, enjoyed warm food, and melted our achey bones in the steam room. We reunited with many of the same people from the night before, which gave us a welcomed sense of community.
Quilotoa Loop: Day 3
We set off for our longest day of hiking (~8.5 miles, 3,500 feet gain) to the highly anticipated Quilotoa Lake. The views somehow just kept getting better with each (fatigued) step. We had a lovely little anniversary picnic once we made it to the caldera rim (thank you Hostal Cloud Forest for the lunch packs!). The stunning view of the turquoise water below made up for the intense winds and plentiful sand in all of our orifices as we made it to Quilotoa for the night. We experienced a heated room for the first time, and wow was it hot. We may have over fed our somewhat unnecessary personal pot belly stove in our room. But hey, yay we made it!!
Quilotoa Lake: Bonus Day
What’s one more day of hiking? We took the morning to descend down to the lake. It’s unreal to think that this was all formed due to a huge volcanic eruption hundreds of years ago. Getting up close and personal reminded us of (a somehow even more beautiful version of) one of our favorite hikes in Colorado (Sky Pond). What goes down indeed has to come back up, but after one final steep climb we got to go full lazy bones mode while traveling to our next stop: Baños. Needless to say our bodies were craving the thermal baths to come.