If you were to look up “Quilotoa” on Wikipedia, I’m sure you would find something like this:
Quilotoa (IPA [kiloˈtoa]) is a water-filled caldera and the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacite volcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ash throughout the northern Andes.[1] The caldera has since accumulated a 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano.[1]
I would agree with that.
We were a little confused on how to get there on our own, and we never bought the Lonely Planet guide to Ecuador, so we went with a guide. It was worth it for us. However, if you’re ever in Ecuador and you want to do it on your own, it’s pretty easy.
- Go to the town of Latacunga
- Catch a bus to Zumbahua (at the terminal)
- Pay somebody to take you up to Quilotoa in their truck
It’s that last step that made us think we wouldn’t pull it off, but once you’re in Zumbahua, if you don’t look like a Latin American, there will be plenty of people offering to take you up for a few bucks.
Anyways, the day we went happen to coincide with main market day (Saturday I think) as well as a big political rally of some sort, so it helped to be in a vehicle with our guide instead of trying to get through the madness ourselves.
The road to Zumbahua. People were everywhere because of the political rallies.
The market in Zumbahua. We ate some red bananas but I don’t have the pictures up…
Traditional-isms and sheep. We ate some red sheep but I don’t have the pictures up…
A couple shots from with drive up:
It’s easy to get down, but because of the elevation it’s pretty tiring to get back up. Some people pay to be taken back up on horses. We were too cool for that but almost died.
This is what some of the trail looks like. The blurry white thing in the corner is the Chupacabra.
“Brianna, get a picture of me! Brianna!! Hey, get a picture of me!”
And this is pretty much what you get…
This is me and our guide. We went down so he could show me the bubbles coming up from the water. Quilotoa crater is an active volcano and so it bubbles. The water is undrinkable here because it’s full of abrasive minerals from deep down in the crust.
And of course there’s Alapaca´s up there and God knows what they might be up to.
