Laguna Quilotoa

From Cotopaxi a group of us decided to head to Quilotoa to see the lake. There wasn't enough time for us to hike around the Quilotoa loop as this normally takes a minimum of 3 days, however a hike around the lake sounded good, so we headed to Latacunga to catch the bus to Quilotoa.

The bus bit was easy and when we arrived at Quilotoa we dove into the first hostel we saw from the Lonely Planet. Apart from the fact it was raining I'm not sure why... We ended up paying $20 a night including dinner and brekkie for the coldest place I've ever stayed in! We were huddled around the stove for most of the afternoon, whilst the roof leaked under the rain. At least we had wood fired stoves in the bedrooms - they eventually got toasty! 

FYI - don't just stop at the first place by the gate 'Alpacka Hostel' - if you continue to the mirador there are toastier places with the same dinner/ brekkie deal for just $15 and everything in Ecuador can be bargained!

A few of us ventured out to see if we could see the Laguna through the clouds

This was probably the best shot I got

Then the clouds descended again and it was just mist in the background of our selfie!

We took refuge in a restaurant to warm up and grab lunch & hot drinks - the hot chocolate appeared to be made with strawberry syrup which was a little weird, but I still drank it!

For the rest of the afternoon I watched a film whilst snuggled up with Pierre Marc and Chloe to try and keep warm. Poor Chloe wasn't feeling too good so we got our wood stove lit early. It was an early night as there wasn't too much to do in Quilotoa and we wanted to be up early in case the weather was better in the morning.

Whilst it wasn't great at 6am when Deana got up it did start clearing after breakfast. I overheard a conversation about buses in the afternoon so our aim was to walk around the lake and be back for the 3pm bus.

The guidelines in the guide book said the hike should take between 4 and 6 hours, but with our deadline 6 was the maximum we could take else we'd be stuck in Quilotoa until 5am the next day! (That's if we depended on public transport - there's always someone willing to take you for an additional price!)

The day started out cold and we were well wrapped up, but with the sun trying to get through and a few steep climbs we were soon warmed up.

At the start of the hike

A bit further around - with the vivid colour setting on my camera. The lake was the most amazing aquamarine colour with neon highlights around the shallows. This is the result of dissolved minerals - the water is very alkaline. Quilotoa Laguna is formed from a volcanic crater than has filled with water since it stopped being active. 

The path took us through throngs of wildflowers - very pretty!

Selfie about 5th of the way around just before we started to tackle the largest incline!

Farmers hut - ripe for development (hey Dad?!)

View of the countryside around the lake 

At the top of the highest point & just a little sweaty!

Jumping for joy at halfway round

When the sun comes out you don't need the filter on the camera!

We ran into cows, sheep and horses - pretty much all of the slopes around the lake are farmed.

We did the hike in 4.5 hours which I was very proud of - at the altitude this was an achievement! This left us with time for lunch before getting the bus and heading back to Latacunga. As I didn't need to be in Quito til Monday I decided to stop in Latacunga and spend a night with Alanah and Ben in the hostel recovering from the hike! 

We stayed in Hostel Tiana which was well organised to support people hiking the full 3 day loop, although my old guide book had the wrong address (they must have moved locations in the last few years - always check online!)

Chilling in Cotopaxi

From Secret Garden hostel in Quito they run a bus to their hostel in Cotopaxi - it sounded very conviensnt so that's what I decided to do with my last week before volunteering.

The ride takes about 2 hours - half on the cobbled road to Cotopaxi and the bumpy drive to the hostel.

The hostel was a collection of red painted buildings which reminded some of my travelmates of Sweden, especially with the mountains to the back.

The hostel was very cosy with wood fired stoves in the dorms and even a jacuzzi! Although it wasn't cheap at $35 + tax (why they can't include the tax in the prices I'll never know!), it included all food. We got a decent breakfast, free tea and coffee all day, lunch, cake, 5 o'clock snack and dinner including dessert. So with all that you had to do some hikes!

When we arrived we got lunch and chilled out to digest before heading on the free hike to the nearby waterfall. Whilst this was a gentle hike to get used to the altitude (3,500m) it was still 'interesting'. We wore wellies and were glad to - the hike took us through mud and we had to wade the river at the end!

After stuffing ourselves silly and indulging in some box wine (that being the only warming option to drink) we needed to do some exercise the next day. So Alanah, Dora and I decided to climb to the Cotopaxi glacier. Sumitting Cotopaxi wasn't an option - too expensive, exhausting and it required ice climbing! So we settled for hiking to the glacier.

We got a glimpse of the top of Cotopaxi on the jeep ride over - but it was mainly cloudy.

Glimpse of Cotopaxi from the Secret Garden.

More views from the garden - you can see it all on a clear day!

View from the national park gate - it's up there somewhere!

Better views from the jeep on the way up to start the hike.

Secret Garden was at 3,500m, we drove to 4,500m to start the hike and half way (at the refuge) we were at 4,864m. The glacier starts (or ends depending on your point of view!) at 5,000m, so this felt like a proper high altitude trek!

I was really proud to make it to that altitude without dizziness and nausea after having those when up a 14,000 ft mountain outside of Denver last August. I still had shortness of breath when walking up - but any exercise at this altitude produces this!

We made it to the glacier and got our photos before running back down! Yes I said running - the path was almost sandy so running down was like running down a dune or in fresh snow - it gives way making you look a little like a moon walker! This was way better on my knees than walking back down.

We then headed back to the hostel for lunch and a well deserved dip in the jacuzzi to warm up!

Selfie with gammy eye in jacuzzi - pretty sweet though!

After staying 2 nights we moved on to see Quilotoa lake...

Las Lajas Sanctuary - finally!

So we managed to escape from San Agustin - with a little help from Humberto our hostel owner - and no help at all from the police, despite the original helicopter mention :(

We got a jeep out on the back road which was unpaved and only passable with 4WD. We didn't see any blockades but it was a mightly uncomfortable ride with 7 of us squashed in the jeep with Humberto and the driver. It also cost a fortune - about 5 times the cost of the bus into San Agustin.

Humberto & our driver packing the jeep up at 6.30am

When we arrived in Popayan the group split up - I had to go back to Park Life hostel for the third time to collect my big bag they were keeping for me - and the others were heading to Cali. So it was goodbye to Regina, 'the negotiator', Lucy, 'waiting for her career in musicals', Jack 'the lad' and Tarryn 'where's my chopper!'.

After treating myself to a Mexican dinner with Ross from the hostel I headed out early the following day to Ipiales. I was determined to visit the sanctuary Las Lajas this time past!

Whilst my direct bus from Popayan to Ipiales ended at Pasto, the driver was very taken with me and made sure I made it onto another bus to Ipiales straight away. There are some advantages to being blonde!

I stayed at a basic hostel in Ipiales and got up early to head to Las Lajas the next morning. I left my big bag at the left luggage at the bus station and waited for a collectivo to fill up so it was only 2,000 COP each way to the sanctuary.

Las Lajas is built over a gorge and the church has had many miracles attributed to it - although only one has been officially recognised - so it attracts lots of pilgrims. It was relatively quiet at 9am on a Monday morning though. Here are the photos:

And to prove I was actually there!

After that it was back to the bus station to pick up my bag and then to the frontera to get back into Ecuador.

A quick and painless process!

Another non direct bus to Quito and I eventually made it to the Secret Garden hostel to plan my last travelling week in Ecuador before I start volunteering with UBECI in Quito.

Campesino's, blockades and statues in San Agustin

Currently writing this post from San Agustin where we are stuck due to campesino (farmer) blockades. 

After Salento I had headed to Cali to break my journey in a different place from when I travelled North. I enjoyed one night at El Viajero hostel with a free salsa lesson and then headed South to Popayan - back to Park Life hostel.

I managed to meet up with Lucy, aka the stalker and after a reunion with lots of wine, we made the possibly poor decision to head east to San Agustin, a UNESCO pre Colombian archelogical site, with some more friends.

The journey to San Agustin wasn't fun - Regina and I were stuck at the back of the van with a family of incredibly car sick people around us - sick hit me when one tried to throw up out of the window and blew back in - eeuurrgghh!!!

When we eventually got to San Agustin we found a hostel in the centre - Diosa Lunar - whose owner Humbeto promised he could arrange anything. On the way in we'd heard about the strikes but everyone thought it would be a few days until Popayan area was effected. When we arrived in San Agustin we weren't too worried - but we met people on the way out and by the following day there were road blocks set up - some were letting people through every few hours.

Determined to get in our experiences of San Agustin - the largest archelogical site in Colombia - we headed off on a 5 hour horse tour of the sites and statues near town. Not everyone had been on horses before/in a long time so we took it slowly.

Lucy and Regina on the way out of town - Regina managed to bond with her horse Chaquira

Lucy still doing good!

I was a tad more comfortable on Rod than I had been on riding in Salento the previous week.

We visited El Purutal, where we saw some well preserved painted sculptures

The statues were found by farmers and preserved in their orginal sites. Their being buried helped preserve them.

These statues were defaced by someone with extra paint but restored to 90% of the original. Even with just the original paint they are bright! Our guide Alvarro showed us some of the trees that the red and yellow colours would have come from.

The next site we saw was the La Pelota site.

This motive of an owl with a snake is used in lots of places.

Quite a few of the human depictions have fangs

The archeologists interpretations are vage about the use of the statues - some like the painted ones guard tombs, others seem to depict the gods of sun and moon and some are other religious icons.

La Chaquira was the next site with stunning views over the river Magdalena.

View over the river gorge

These carvings in the rocks look out over the river

Me mimicking the carving!

El Tablon was the final site we visited with the horses before heading back into town just as it started raining.

This was one of the statues at El Tablon - the eyes in this one represent Eagles which were a sacred bird. He is also wearing a nose ring and breast plate - which we saw examples of in the gold museum in Bogota.

This little guy has the fangs.

Some of the statues at El Tablon were incomplete - just the outlines could be seen on the rocks.

Back in town we had a few beers at the roof top terrace of our hostel and collapsed in bed exhausted!

We managed to get up (late) the following day and walk up to the archelogical park just outside of town. By now we'd heard from a few tourists that the road blocks were in place - but we decided to visit the park and then visit the police.

In the park some of the tombs and statues are in their original sites or mesitos and some, including the best examples of the carvings, are in the forest of the statues 'Bosque de las Estatuas'.

The ceremonial altars - the central figure has two guards who have animal headdresses 

Funerary jars in the tombs

Another owl snake combo

Stone carved tomb

Some of the statues in the forest:

Do you think he's going skiing?!

After walking back into town we visited the police who seemed to tell us that there was no way out of town due to the road blocks. We were told that if sufficient people registered with the police who urgently needed to get out (e.g. Flights out of the country) then they could arrange a helicopter to take us to Bogota.

So we registered and seemed fairly happy about this, free chopper ride!

Then the following day we heard there was no police helicopter unless we got stuck here for a lot longer. So next option was to get a car to take us out - unfortunately it seems we've missed the sweet spot where we could have avoided the road blocks and now we'll need to bribe our way through (the road blocks have multiplied over the last few days).

Luckily our hostel owner Humbero 'todo es possible' knows a man - so fingers crossed we'll be back in Popayan Saturday!