I think it must be time to come home. Moments are starting to repeat themselves. We’re discussing the subtle nuances between fishing for Pollack/Halibut in Homer Alaska with catching giant Mekong Catfish in Chaing Mai Thailand. We’re reminiscing about similarities between the tropical rain forests of SE Alaska and Banos Equador. And, we’ve visited our 2nd volcanic crater that has turned into a breathtakingly pristine mountain lake.
Some friends that we met on our tour of the Uyuni region of Bolivia, had told us about a must see place in Bolivia, Quilotoa crater. A beautiful crater lake, with a hiking trail around the rim. We were sold.
Though our visit to Quilotoa was short, it was eventful. We arrived by Taxi, Bus, and Taxi from Chimborazo. It did feel a bit odd, getting dropped of by a bus in the middle of Latacunga (a non-touristy town in the middle of Ecuador) basically on the side of the road, with no plans for how to get to Quilotoa (about 45 minutes away). It was a simple matter of negotiating a “fair” rate with one of the available taxis. That simple matter can be complicated when you don’t know what’s fair, and the drivers are showing signs of “solidarity” in their efforts to charge a gringo tax. We worked it out.
The ride was nice, essentially winding around sides of mountains (volcanoes), and along beautiful farming communities in the valleys.
When we arrived, we found our Hostel (rustic but nice enough) and checked in. The place was conveniently located just steps away from the rim of the crater, so we bounced over to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out that we could not see much because of the fog, but we saw enough to be excited about the possibilities.
We walked down the street and found some pizza. It was serviceable, though probably the thinnest pizza I’ve ever had (you could basically see through the crust. It made Imo’s look like Chicago style.
Then, we proceeded to take a walk. We didn’t get far! About 100 yards west of our hostel, we could not help but notice a young lady, working diligently to dig and collect small potatoes. I thought it was pretty cool, given that we were 10 feet from a national park, 50 feet from the edge of a crater, and it was dusk and foggy.
We we walked by Kat turned to Kim and said “can I help her”? “Sure, go ask” The girl never ceases to amaze me. I told myself years ago that I’d never assume there was anything they could not do because Kane kept surprising me. It’s so easy to project your own limits onto your kids. I never would have jumped in to help a stranger harvest potatoes.
Kat went first, helping to grab up the potatoes that the lady dug with her shovel. Then, she started helping to sift through the loose dirt to find them. Kane jumped in to, and eventually Kim. I took the all important duty of photographer and dog whisperer (somebody had to do it). Definitely one of the highlights of the stop.
The rest of the night was uneventful other than meeting nice backpackers at dinner, and watching the hosts light our wood burning stove with gasoline.
The next morning, we had breakfast and walked over to the crater for a hike. We had decided to hike down to the lake and back instead of doing the rim. The rim looked a bit slippery, and we had not hiked to the lake at Crater Lake NP so…
At the entrance, an old guy stopped us to rent us some horses. Kim decided to get one for the return trip. She figured Kat would enjoy it, and they could take turns. It’s quite a little elevation drop from the rim to the lake (>1300 feet).
We blissfully started skipping down the nice path to the lake. Along the way, Kane wanted to climb everything and “go off-path”, we tried to balance letting him have fun and staying safe. It was gorgeous.
Near the bottom, the trail splits. To the left, you take a gentle slope down the lake. To the right, there is a path out to a relatively flat peninsula jutting out into the lake. The point looked like a great place to enjoy the beauty, so we did that. After 10 minutes or so of soaking it all in, we started down a steep and windy path from the point to the lake.
The guys scraping barnacles from the canoes seemed nice enough. Kat started the negotiation before I got down to them. After much deliberation, and 5 minutes of negotiating, we settled on the inflatable raft for an hour. Only problem was, she was not sea-worthy at the moment. Half full of water, and missing some air. The guys got right to work on fixing her up.
Once the boat was ready, and we were ready (with life jackets on etc), the guy changed the deal to 30 minutes. I don’t even remember what the price was, but it quickly became a principle issue for me. We walked. The kids were sad. I really thought they would call us back and honor the deal, especially after they did all the work to get it ready. Oh well.
We started up the hill. The horse we ordered was nowhere to be seen. They weren’t even on the path as far as we could tell. Kane was racing up the hill, and I was trying to keep pace. We ended up quite a distance in front of the girls. It was steep.
When Kane and I were 80% of the way up, a different guy with the horses went past. I was super curious how this was going to work out, assuming he’s catch an earful from Kim! When I got to the top, the guy who originally agreed to have the horses came by to try to shake me down for the entrance fee to the park (which we had already paid), and be generally chummy. I told him that Kim was not going to be happy about the horse not being available. He shrugged.
The girls arrived on two horses shortly after that, and I was “pleased” to find out that she’d not discussed the cost with the horse guy. (we had agreed for 1 horse from the lake to the rim, she ended up with 2 from partway up). He promptly put out his hand and asked for double the original cost. (it was probably 20 bucks vs 10)
I tend to roll-over a bit when I’m not in my element. The Spanish-English barrier had prevented me from really sticking up for my rights in the past. Not this time. I let this guy have it in both languages. I even threatened to involve the police (not sure why?), but I was on a roll. I tried to involve the orginal guy, but he was no help. He told me we were supposed to wait at the lake for the horse. That really fired me up, because he had told us 20 minutes and after an hour and 20, he was a no show. I let him have it too! His buddy did not give up easily, but he made a severe tactical error. He lowered his price to 15 and told me it was “normal”. Uh-Oh. That was not smart. So, why would you tell me that you just tried to screw me out of an 5 extra bucks? I stuck the 10 bucks (he would not take it) under the saddle of Kat’s horse, told him (in spanish) that he was lucky to get 10, and walked away.
Unfortunately, this guy had impeccable timing. He got an extra dose of me based on the accumulative effect of feeling ripped off for a few days (Chimborazo was a joke). But it felt good to come out on top, and to handle myself in Spanish too!
As a side note, for anyone considering a similar Sabbatical… I would try to avoid being a “tourist” as much as possible, and live in a few places for longer. I’d stay in small towns close to big towns for a month and rent a house/apartment. You can live MUCH more cheaply like a local than you can as a tourist. Get yourself out of the tourist mindset!!! It’s better anyway, but I digress.
At any rate, we had scheduled a cab to Cotopaxi for later in the afternoon, but decided to get going right away. I’d had enough of the place for the day.
Half way to Cotopaxi, we were back in Latacunga, and our cabbie got two calls on his cell. About 10 minutes later, he told us it was his wife, in labor with his first! In Latacunga! I’m surprised he didn’t take us to the hospital and tell us to find another way to Cotopaxi. The poor guy had now idea what he was in for. He may have enjoyed the delay? I wish him well, and was honored to be a small part of that moment for some strange reason.
I’m sure the hotel at Cotopaxi is covered in that post, but suffice to say here, it was an amazing place. A “mostly” rehabbed old grand estate (it was built by the founder of the town). I felt like we were living on a movie set!
Quilotoa is a place to spend some real time if you like to hike. You can even do a wide loop around it if you have the time. Just beware of the standard pricing games for cabs, horses, and boats.
