We passed by valleys, mountains, farmlands, and gorges, as we went higher and higher, we reached the clouds, but we came back down closer to the human affairs again. As we arrived at Zumbahua, there was a sign saying that Quilotoa was only 12 km away. We arrived in just a couple more minutes. Overall, it was a 1.5 hours ride, the views outside of the windows were not boring at all. All the passenagers on the bus got off at Quilotoa, because we were considered walking inside to the crater lake area, so it was free for us. You can also drove your car or bus inside, they did need to pay a visit fee. I did not linger behind this time, I kind of rushed up to the front, not just because I couldn't wait to see the lake, I really needed to take a leak as well, I know, it wouldn't be an easy find for a bathroom. Didn't know if it had anything to do the altitude, but I felt like I needed to pee a lot this past week. There were two hiking options in Quilotoa, either hiking along the rim of the volcano, which would take 5 hours, some areas could be very steep and sandy. The other option is hiking down to the crater lake, it only takes 30-45 mins to go down, but coming back is the difficult part, it can take up to 1.5 hours for the return. I did not do neither. Instead I walked along the rim a bit, and then I found a spot to sit and looked at the lake for a good while, ate some bread while enjoying the views.
It started to rain a little around 1pm. So, I started to head back to the entrance to wait for 1:45pm return bus. The bus was quite empty, I picked a window seat. The rain had already long gone, the sun and blue sky had returned. I was able to take some pictures of the valleys and farmlands. On a clear day, Cotopaxi Volcano can be visible as well. Cotopaxi is one of the world's highest volcanoes, active. If weather permits, I will be hiking up to the base camp by the glaciers on the top of Cotopaxi tomorrow, I will not summit, to do that, it requires two days. Will see if I will be that luck to see the Cotopaxi tomorrow. With the current weather, one never knows. Anyway, got back to town 3:45-4ish, instead of taking taxi, I decided to walk back the center, it was really a 10-15 mins walk, it was absolutely nothing. I found a creperie and had a banana & nutella crepes, sort of a late lunch snacks. I also stopped by the tour agency to check about tomorrow. So, here is the deal, Cotopaxi will be very cold, the base camp is at 4800m. I was checking if I needed to rent any heavier jacket or hiking gear from them, since I did not bring any heavy jackets for this trip. I do have a hoodie, a jacket and another rain/wind jacket. She suggested that I should wear all of them, I have two pants, I will be wearing both of them as well. So, basically I will be walking like a mummy tomorrow. Will see how that works out. Also, the plan is that I will leave to Quito right after the tour at Cotopaxi, I will need to catch a bus on the highway. There will be probably some traffic on the later afternoon hours, but I hope I will still make it back to Quito before getting dark.
See all Day 8 photos here.
