Ecuador was the country I had the least time for. Despite being a rather small southamerican country it still has to offer a lot of beautiful places and deserves a lot of time spent with discovering them all. But I was already more than 4 months in and time and money slowly started dictating my travel schedule. It was the end of September and my initial plan was to return home in October… Meeting my schedule had already become impossible, but no worries!
He said he was going to come back in October! Is he ever going to start looking for a job?! I had 8 days left to see what I could, get to the coast for a dive and arrive in Guayaquil. No problem! On my way south I wanted to see the volcanic lake Quilotoa. Latacunga is a destination of many travelers who use it as a base for trips to Quilotoa and the volcano Cotopaxi.
What I noticed on the journey: compared to Colombia, Ecuador has some pretty modern and broad highways, especially in the area around the capital. My bus arrived in Latacunga after about 2 hours. A perfect hostel right in the center and with a rooftop terrace to take a sunbath and enjoy the impressive view of the volcano Cotopaxi. Latacunga itself has some nice spots, like the central square those Spaniards just knew how to build nice squares!
Cotopaxi, unsuccessfully trying to hide behind clouds. The next morning I had to get up early to catch a bus to Quilotoa. At the breakfast table I met two german sisters who were going there too, so we went to the bus terminal together 10 to 15 minutes walking distance. One of the girls was quite nice, bute damn! The bus to the little village Quilotoa right by the lake takes you on a scenic journey through the Andes.
Now, 8 months after the bus ride, I still remember it as one of the best moments of my whole journey. Almost there! At the lake of Quilotoa you have two options: You can either walk around the whole crater around 5 to 6 hours if I remember right or descend to the bottom, take a closer look at the lake and ascend back up should take you around 3 hours in total. We arrived at the lake around 10 am and the last bus back to Latacunga was supposed to leave around 5 pm. The girls were going to hike around the crater so I made sure to do the opposite of what they did.
