Day 334: Cotopaxi & Quilota Laguna
We had 2 days to explore the areas outside of Quito before we had to leave for Peru. We really should have just picked one location and explored it thoroughly, but – in typical Igor & Lindsay fashion – we decided to do a fly-by of as many sights as possible. Our first stop was Latacunga – the jumping off point for both Volcan Cotopaxi and Quilota Laguna. Here is where we could have really used the two days, as both locations are worth visiting. We managed to book a day tour covering *both* a hike up the volcano and visit to the crater lake, but it was a looooooong day and did NOT run smoothly.
We started the day with a 1.5hr. private transfer from our hotel in Quito to our hotel in Latacunga for USD $60 (surprise, surprise! It’s our buddy Javier again!). We arrived in Latacunga nice and early, around 8AM and immediately asked the hotel if they could help us book a last minute day tour. Even though it was a holiday weekend (most Peruvians had Monday & Tuesday off for Carnival), we were able to secure a driver for the day (although at USD $150, we discovered the hotel was making a 25% commission, as the driver herself only charged USD $110 for the day package).
Normally a day tour including both Cotopaxi and Quilota Laguna would start at 9AM and run until 5-6PM. Since we were booking so last minute, it was understandable that the driver needed more time to prepare and didn’t show up until 10AM. That’s fine – let’s just jump into the car and get this party started! Or, at least let’s get the car started. Not sure what was wrong with this lady’s circa-1982 manual pickup, but she tried for about half an hour to get this stupid car started – every time she turned the key in the ignition, the clunker stalled and the *friggin’ security alarm started going off*. She called her husband on the phone and tried to talk the problem through with him, to no avail. Around 10:30AM, the hotel staff (who had probably been watching out the window this whole time) came out into the street to stare and offer supposedly helpful suggestions. We couldn’t figure out what she did differently, but eventually the engine came roaring to life. With a relived cheer of, “hurrah!” we were finally off!
Cotopaxi National Park was only a 45min drive away, so we started our day with a visit to the volcano. At 5,897M, Cotopaxi is one of the highest volcanos in the world, as well as one of the most active. The town of Latacunga has been destroyed by not one, not two, but by *three* separate eruptions (all in the 1700s – I guess they moved the town a bit further away each time until they found the sweet spot?). In 2015, seismic activity from the volcano caused over 2,000 earthquakes and emitted thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide, although no actual eruption occurred.
Nonetheless, climbing and summiting Cotopaxi remains a popular tourist activity! Although, during our visit, permits to summit the volcano and see into the snow-filled crater at the top had been suspended due to safety concerns. However, we and plenty others braved the cold and the SNOW to hike to the refugio at 4800M. It was wonderfully bizarre to think, just 2 days ago we were under the sea in tropical Ecuador, and now we were tramping through snow flurries and risking altitude sickness on the mainland!
Limpiopungo Laguna in Cotopaxi National Park – great spot for birding, but we were too cold to stand out for very long. Time to break out the thermals and puffer jackets!
Snow at the equator…say, what?!?
Hiking the last 2KM to the refugio on Volcan Cotopaxi
We can just make out the refugio through the snowy fog – we made it!
Successful day-hike on Cotopaxi, in Ecuador
He refugio has a selection of snacks for hungry trekkers (incuding a Volcano Empanada as big as your head), however, we are running behind schedule so we turn right around and descend before lunch
Going off-trail where the fresh snow is soft and sturdy until we finally reach the road
Snow-capped Cotopaxi
Below the snowline, you can make out trails of footprints that have been filled in with snow flurries
As we reached the parking area, our guide told us to take our time coming down as she ran ahead to try and start the car. And God bless her, she tried. And tried. And tried. She no longer had cell reception at the top of the mountain so she couldn’t call for help. Some of her fellow guides came over to hang out on the driver’s window to see if they could help. After what seemed like an eternity, the engine came to life again. Unfortunately, the late start and all the engine trouble set-backs had really taken a toll on our schedule today – it was mid-afternoon and we hadn’t even had lunch yet! Our guide sped down the mountain as quickly as possible and pulled into the park’s visitor’s center to order our included lunch (trout and French fries, with a side of rice and a salad – which took a good 20min to prepare). Not willing to risk another delay, this time when we stopped, our guide left the engine running in neutral and blocked off the tires with some large rocks!
It takes our guide another 30+min to get the truck started – it’s a 3PM by the time we stop for lunch
It was another 3hr drive from Cotopaxi National Park to get to the Quilota Laguna. When we were about halfway there, our guide unexpectedly pulled over and got out of the car to let a man get in the driver’s seat. Were we changing guides? “El es mi esposo,” she explained to Lindsay. We laughed – she had called her husband to come meet us to help her with the car! Hey – you do whatcha gotta do! Her husband must have mastered the technique for starting the pickup truck because we didn’t have any more car issues that day.
Carnival celebrations in the small town of Zumbahua, just outside the Cañón del Río Toachi
When we finally arrived at Quilota Laguna around 5:30PM, the place was covered in a thick layer of fog. Our guide walked us into the park, down the path to the first viewpoint and announced that we had arrived. “So, we’re supposed to be able to see the lake from here?” we asked, staring into the white nothingness. “Sí,” she replied. She pointed to the trail heading down into the mist and told us we were welcome to hike down if we wanted – it would take about 20min to get to the bottom, but she warned us that walking back up would be very steep. There were plenty of locals charging USD $10pp for a donkey-ride back up, so we could hire a lift if we felt too tired.
“Will we be able to see the lake if we hike down?” we asked. She shrugged, “Maybe.” Not terribly encouraging (she and her husband were probably hoping we’d forgo the hike and let them turn home early), but what the hell – we’re only here once, right? We joined the dozens of other tourists still heading down into the crater in the hopes of getting a glimpse of this silly lake.
We walk 4KM down the path into the Quilota crater to see the laguna, planning to take a donkey ride back up
Quilota Laguna
First of all, the hike down was a longer than 20min – more like 40min. The entire way we were dodging tourist-laden donkeys and their giant piles of poo. When we finally got about 2/3 of the way down, we found ourselves below the cloudbank and could see the lake – yay! Lindsay thought, ‘Mission Accomplished’, right? She was also starting to get a bit worried – not only had the walk down taken longer than expected, but she suddenly started to notice there weren’t many donkeys coming up the trail anymore and she couldn’t see a stable or anything down below where more might be waiting. “Maybe we should turn back – I don’t think there are anymore donkeys left!” she told Igor. A (stupid) tourist behind her overheard and said, “Oh, no – there are more! A lady told me so.”
So we kept going all the way to the end. Guess what? There were no more donkeys. Damn it – looks like we’re walking back up.
Admiring the view of Quilota Laguna. There is a swing set-up at the edge of the crater a la the Casa de Arbol, but we skip it as we plan to do the real thing tomorrow (big mistake!)
The cloud bank continues to lift, giving us a great view of Quilota Laguna
As we are taking artsy pictures of dewy grasses, we befriend a sweet chocolate puppy
Screw the horses – puppy, you are all we need to get out of this crater!
Daylight is fading fast and we have to make it up an 1+hr, 4KM steep crater before it gets dark!
Final view of Quilota Laguna
It took us a good hour and a half to climb back out of the crater, by which time it was so dark we were in desperate need of a flashlight. Luckily, we caught up to a group that was using their cellphone to guide themselves (and us) up the trail. We found our guide and her husband sitting cozy in their truck, playing on their cellphones in the dark. We hopped in the back and buckled up as the husband took off down the road towards Latacunga as fast as he could. It was a bit nausea-inducing as the road was very winding and he kept trying to pass slow-moving cars, but we made it to our hotel in one piece around 9:30PM. As we were both suffering a bit from car-sickness we didn’t even bother to inquire about dinner – we both took showers and passed out.