- The sun has just started to rise in the sky when we leave our hotel in Quito to drive south. Our driver turns out to be a friendly guy who takes the time we need, and we are looking forward to a nice day. We make a short stop at a viewpoint over the city, before continuing further south. It is cloudy, and unfortunately Cotopaxi is hiding from us. We can only hope that Quilotoa Lake will have better visibility. When we turn west from the Panamericana Sur highway, traffic thins out. The road starts to climb rapidly, and the scenery gets more dramatic. We stop several times for a better look at the views. When we walk uphill, we feel that we are at higher altitude than Quito. The mountains, the villages and lone houses clinging to the slopes, the groups of trees here and there: our noses are glued to the windows while the driver continues further west.
- Our first real stop is the village of Zumbahua, which lies south of Quilotoa Lake. We are lucky: it is Saturday, which is market day. Indeed, when we arrive at the main square of Zumbahua, we get stuck in traffic. We get out, and start wandering the square and adjacent street. We are catapulted into a real indigenous world of women with very long, very black hair braids, dressed in Indian garb. Old men sitting behind even older sewing machines, working their way to make clothes. Women whose face is crinkled, giving us a sweet smile and exposing their brown teeth. Mothers with their small children tied to their back. Two women sitting next to each other, dressed in traditional clothes, both busy on their cellphones. We look at the wares on offer. There is a food section, with fruits, vegetables and meat, but there is also a section with regular clothes. There is another with handicraft and indigenous sweaters, with the inevitable lama as a recurrent theme. But we are on our way to Quilotoa, so we leave the market behind and head north.
- Before we reach the lake, we stop at a small canyon which has some nice views, as well as cute lamas to pose with. Another short drive north, and we reach the end of the road. Before exploring, we have a very tasty local lunch in one of the restaurants. We walk a short distance uphill, and when we reach the top of the hill, we stop at a wooden fence. Beneath our feet, we see the waters of Quilotoa Lake surrounded by rugged mountains. This once was the caldera of a volcano, and our guide tells us it still is. The last eruption was in some 800 years ago and the volcano has been dormant since. We watch how the wind pushes clouds across the sky, resulting in dramatic changes of colour in the lake below us. It goes from green/blue, to almost black, in a matter of seconds - and then reverts back to green again. I now regret having had lunch: we don't have time to walk around the lake anymore. Instead, we start walking in a clockwise direction, and follow a path alongside the ridge of the crater. It meanders up and down the slopes, and we pass some kids begging for money on the way. We always keep our eyes on the ever changing colours of the lake below us, and frequently stop to take pictures before we continue our way around the lake. At one point, the path diverges, and we choose to stay on the inside of the crater. It becomes steeper, and the going a little harder. At one point, my companions want to return, although I think our trail will connect further down with a lower trail. We make our way up to the rim again, and have a last look at the viewpoint before we start on our way back to Quito through the dramatic landscapes we have already seen in the morning. The market in Zumbahua seems to be near its end already.
