Constructing Life

This has to be one of my favourite places we’ve ever stayed. We don’t go out of our way to pick places that are remarkable – we usually choose the reasonably price car, the reasonably priced hotel, the reasonably priced restaurant. This was reasonably priced too and though it wasn’t mint, with every want fulfilled, it was an extraordinary place that I really enjoyed.

The walls are 3ft thick and the hotel has beautiful stone floors and beautiful hardwood. We are here, apparently in the coldest month, and all the fireplaces are going non stop. This is actually not hard to do here; they burn Eucalyptus which is an incredibly dense hardwood. It burns and smolders for hours on end even unattended. There were times we went into rooms and they didn’t appear to have a fire going but the embers under the huge logs were there and generating a silent heat that permeated the room. That wood just burns like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Every day when we returned from our hikes and wanderings our fire in our room would be lit and warming the room. There is nothing nicer than to come home to a warm fire. The hotel had multiple large living rooms where guests could relax by the fire and enjoy the ambiance. The hotel was decorated for Christmas which got us into the Christmas mood.

We made some new friends here too as we have all along the way this trip. They’re doing a huge tour and it was nice to be invited to have dinner with them- it was such a good time. All of them were from Australia and it made for good dinner conversation to just chat about things that are slightly different or the same and also talk about what they had seen along the way. Hi Lynn, John, Keith………

We were so happy with our day at Cotopaxi that we asked our guide if he was free for another day to go see Lake Quilotoa.

He picked us up at 8am and we began a lengthy journey through towns and villages dotted along the path towards the Volcano. Guilermo took us to the first stop of the day – an outdoor day market where we took a quick stroll through the fresh fruit, veggies and fish that was on sale. There were even guys selling shampoo! They attempt to sell a little bit of everything there – not sure why they think shampoo is going to be a big seller but maybe they can do it cheaper.

After seeing the central park in the town and one of the churches, we continued on our journey and had an unexpected stop. Guillermo pulled over at the side of the road in a spot that looked to have nothing and then we realized that there was a small grass hut home just up a narrow path. We were well above the tree line but the softly rounded hills were divided into small farming patches. We walked up the path and towards the home. The family living there welcomed us in and we were astonished to see how they had fit everything into their home. It was probably 12ft by 10ft but it felt even smaller because of the slope of the grass roof. When we entered, to our left was the mom cooking on a stove that sat on the ground, the pot just a foot higher than the ground. She was crouched down stirring away at the daily meal which was boiling away over the bright flames – the only light besides the daylight that shone in.

We left after taking a beautiful photo of the family and a few of the dogs, birds and pigs. The drive through the highlands was just spectacular - the cool air and clouds grazing the peaks of the hills and the green fields of the farmers with their grass huts and small rivers nearby. I couldn’t take enough pictures of the beautiful landscape.

Eventually we made our final ascent up to the rim of the Quilotoa crater. There was a pleasant assortment of little restaurants and places to stay up there. It seemed to be a new economy for the locals driven by the tourists – most of which were not gringos like us btw. Guillermo left us to make the hike to the bottom of the crater on our own. It took us around an hour just to hike down to the lake. The problem was that the path was very steep and the dirt was dry and packed making things a bit slippery and tricky. Brooke had to be especially careful as she couldn’t afford a fall on her hand. We made it to the bottom and sat and had some snacks at the beach. We declined the option of taking a horse back up which half way through the hike up both Brooke and I were thinking might have been a good idea. Boy did we sweat. But we powered up the hill only being passed by four young boys who weren’t carrying anything and a dog. It took us well over an hour to get down and only 45 min to get back up. This is the exact opposite of what they suggest – 45 min to get down and 1 to 2 hours to climb back up. We’re fit.