Quilotoa loop

Ride to Quilatoa

Canon del Rio Toachi

 Quilotoa Crater Lake

Ok I couldnt stop taking photos but the colors change with the clouds

Us at the lagoon

  There was only one big tree in side the crater

Leaving Quilotoa walking to Chigchillan, many children ran past us

The walk along the road

Alpaca

The views around Quilotoa on the road were amazing

A walk to the cloud forest and cheese factory

From Latucunga we arranged a tour for $40 a person through our hostel (hotel Tiana and Tovar tours).  The tour information and the guy selling the tour said we would stop in Pujili and Tigua to visit the painters and I was a bit disappointed that we didnt  stop in either.  After walking into and around the crater on our own we had lunch in Quilotoa.  The driver dropped us off in Quilotoa since we didnt want to go back to Latucunga but started the walk to Chigchillan and then when the bus passed we took the bus.  The tour to Quilatoa was not worth it as it was basically a driver since he didnt come hiking with us.  We should have taken the public bus which goes from Latacunga to Quilatoa since we didnt stop in the villages anyways with the tour and would have saved a lot of money. 

We spent the night at Mama Hildas in Chigchillan which was really nice.   It runs around $15 a night depending on the room and includes breakfast and dinner.  The dinners were really good.  I was a bit annoyed as drinks are not included not even coffee, tea or water and then they add the 12% tax to the $15 but overall it was a great place.. very quiet and cute.  We hiked around the area and into the cloud forest and visited the cheese factory.  We got a ride there for $5 a person and then walked back. I really liked the hiking around there.  The Black Sheep has maps of the area to go hiking. 

Quilatoa has an altitude of around 3,800M while Chugchilan has an altitude of around 3100 meters.

From Chigchillan we took the 3:30AM bus back to Latacunga. I think it cost around $2.5 and took almost 4 hours.