The town of Quilotoa is tiny, and lies roughly 2 hours away from Latacunga by bus. If you head to the main bus station in Latacunga, there are multiple companies that embark on the journey. However the earliest buses from Latacunga we could find to anywhere on the Quilotoa Loop disembarked at 10:30. That made it difficult to catch a bus somewhere before commencing a full day of hiking.

The journey to Quilotoa follows a winding road through beautiful green farm land. Time passes by fairly quickly when you’re surrounded by hundreds of green patchwork covered hill sides. 

Upon arriving in Quilotoa we found a hostel and dropped our stuff. For only $10 we were rewarded with a double bed each, hot water and a fireplace in our room. Perfect! And that was the expensive option, as the hostel we stayed in had a $5 room too. The hostel was located on the right hand side of the road up towards the lake, just after you pass the entry station where you need to pay $2 to enter the park. After a bite to eat, we headed for the crater, a mere 300m from the entrance of town. 

On the first afternoon we decided we’d embark on the trek around the lake. It’s 12 km long and said to take anywhere from 5 to 6 hours as it is very up and down, and is situated at an altitude of almost 4000m.

The walk was beautiful! The lake is incredible and the colour is so fantastically vibrant it doesn’t feel real. We ended up finishing the loop around the crater just as it was getting dark and cold. The walk took us just under 4 hours which we were very happy with, considering our lack of hiking boots and being at sea level only a week before. I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking for this one, it was amazing. 

Also on a side note, the wind here can be brutal and freezing, so make sure you pack a few layers! A friend we were with (Hi Ness!) thought shorts and a t-shirt would be sufficient.. To put it into perspective I had on leggings, a singlet, a long sleeve tee, a polar fleece jacket, a down jacket and a beanie and still felt the cold! However being from Australia does mean we’re a little bit soft when it comes to cold weather.


That night we had wood fired pizza and hit bed at around 8:30pm. The sleep was well needed. The next day we headed back to the lake, and this time walked down to the water. It’s a 30 or so minute walk down and 45 - 60min back up depending on your pace (and how acclimatised you are to that pesky altitude). We took a few more snaps and played around with a couple of friendly local pooches that followed us all morning before heading back to the hostel for some breakfast. After that it was on to our next stop, the small town of Chugchilan 11 or so kilometres away.

Now its important to note here that we did not have a map, and resultantly it wasn’t super obvious where to go… but nonetheless we made it, and the scenery was again incredible. There are several ways to get there, via road, dirt road, or a small zigzagging goat trail cut into the side of the volcano that dips all the way down to a river at the bottom of the valley, crosses it via a bridge made from a pile of eucalyptus logs and then works back up towards Chugchilan.

Needless to say we took the goat/donkey trail, and again I’ll let photos do the talking.

The next day we grabbed a lift back to Quilotoa and then a bus back to Latacunga. The Lake was incredible and the scenery between the two towns were beautiful. If you’ve got the time we highly recommend at least doing a day trip to the lake and walking the 12km’s around it.

We’ve heard of people spending weeks trekking around and between the small towns on the “Quilotoa Loop” and if you have more time the world is your oyster. Buses between towns and back to Latacunga however are pretty irregular (once per day or less), and some towns we later found out have no buses at all. We also found it hard to find any accurate information on bus schedules anywhere online or in Latacunga, so a recommendation from us would be if you have a deadline (flight, etc) to reach shortly after exploring Quilotoa, then leave yourself a day or two buffer to make sure you don’t end up stranded, or have to pay a local an arm and a leg for a lift the whole way back to Latacunga.

After 5 days of Spanish lessons in Quito we were well and truly ready to get the hell out of the city. We hopped on an afternoon bus to Otavalo, to go check out the famous Saturday markets. We had to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.

The journey from Quito to Otavalo took a little less than 2 hours, and cost only $2.50. Once we arrived in town we found our hostel, dropped our things and went for an explore to find dinner.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go the the animal markets. The animal markets, unlike the other markets, are not for tourists. I mean tourists are more than welcome to visit them however there aren't things to buy here, unless you're in the market for a new bull, duck or guinea pig. The animal market begins around 6am and is well worth checking out, even just to see how the locals go about getting their new rooster, pet puppy or turkey.

After the animal markets we headed back to the hostel for breakfast before heading out to the famous markets. The markets were HUGE, lining multiple streets, the main square and more. You could buy just about anything your heart desired from art to jewellery, to rugs, hammocks, jumpers, bags and sandals. They had it all, and the pricing was good too. I was worried that as it is so hugely popular with tourists that the prices would be inflated to match, however llama and alpaca wool jumpers and such were running about the same price as they do in Bolivia. 

We browsed for a few hours and I even purchased a couple of new silver rings and necklaces. All in all the 2 days spent in Otavalo were a success. the town is much quieter and more traditional than Quito. Locals in the street seemed to be much friendlier towards us and it felt a lot safer. The next day we got up early for a walk in the hills on the edge of town. That little stretch of the legs was just what the doctor ordered before jumping on a bus again and heading back to Quito.

From Riobamba we headed onwards to Baños. 

With white water rafting, canyoning, bungee jumping, paragliding and more on offer from every second store, Baños is one of the adventure capitals of South America. 
As we've done many of these activities before and I was still a little under the weather, we opted for a more chilled couple of days.

On our first afternoon there we explored the town, got a cheap lunch, bought some rock candy and walked to one of the waterfalls and thermal baths close to town. 

For most of the time in Baños we stayed at Hostal Princessa Maria which was awesome. This had light and spacious rooms with a comfy bed and access to the best kitchen we have had to date on the trip. It is also literally across the street from the local markets that run 3 times a week where you can get plenty of awesome and ridiculously cheap local fruit and veg.

The next day we hired a couple of bikes ($7 each for the whole day) and rode from Baños to Rio Verde, a 40 odd kilometre cycle. The best part? It was all down hill. 

It's a very easy ride and you just follow the main road that goes from Baños to Puyo. You can ride the whole way to Puyo but by Rio Verde my butt was starting to ache a little. The road goes via heaps of different waterfalls which are cool to check out. The best of the falls by far is the Pailon del Diablo, located in Rio Verde. After being to Iguazu falls in January we weren't sure if any other waterfalls would ever cut it, but this one is pretty darn powerful and really impressive. There was even a real cool crawl through to get to the top of it and you can scramble into a little cove in the rock behind the falls. Needless to say, we were glad to have brought a plastic bag for our camera.

Heading back up to Baños was easy as there are plenty of trucks waiting around the falls at Rio Verde. We chucked our bikes in the back and clambered aboard for the easy cruise back. Most drivers will do the trip for about $10-15 US in total, so you can split the cost of the truck with other cyclists at the bottom - there is certainly no lack of them there.

The scenery of the whole ride was absolutely beautiful following the edge of canyon and riverbed way below for the most part. Considering how traffic is in most of South America, we were initially a little stressed about riding on the shoulder of the main road. In the end we found this to be completely unwarranted with all Ecuadorian drivers giving us plenty of space and respect - even more so than drivers do back home!

With our little packed lunch of sandwiches made from

Next up we're headed to Latacunga to meet up with a friend from him, (Hi Ness!) and visit the Quilotoa Loop and Cotopaxi Volcano!

We woke up early on Sunday morning, had a quick breakfast of banana porridge and terrible coffee and headed out the door. We were off to see if we could hitch a ride on one of the many Guayaquil bound buses to Cajas National Park. 

Now you would think that as Cajas is a huge national park, and a major tourist attraction to those visiting Cuenca, that they would have a direct bus at least once or twice a day. But no, they don't. Instead you have to try find space on one of the buses headed to Guayaquil (4 hours away) and jump off on the highway when you see the sign for the national park, after roughly 1 hour. 

Now it's easy enough to get a bus there as there are many running each morning, but getting back can be very difficult. I've heard and read stories of people waiting 2 or more hours on the side of the road for one of the buses headed to Cuenca from Guayaquil to stop and let them on.. Unfortunately, even though there are plenty of buses as it's a popular journey, a lot of the time there's no room, and hence the buses just cruise on by. We were lucky and managed to jump on a bus back within 10 minutes of leaving the park.. But more on that later. 

We arrived at the park with the most beautiful of weather. This was lucky, as for the last month or so it has been raining and overcast every single day, making trekking around the park not so enjoyable. Needless to stay we were both stoked with the weather. We went to the Rangers office, signed in and headed off for a walk around the lagoon.

About half way around the lake we climbed up on to a rock overlooking the lake for a little break and a couple of pictures. Sean asked me to take a photo of him, and of course I obliged. As I fiddled with the camera and looked up at Sean he was down on one knee. I thought to myself, that's a really weird pose, not something Sean usually does. If he's going to pose for a photo he'll chuck his arms out to the side, not get all the limbs involved. I took a quick snap. And then he started talking.. And I couldn't believe my ears. 

Now I don't want to bore you with all the sappy details but if you didn't guess, we're now engaged! 
Sean's been carrying the ring all the way from Australia around in his backpack for over 5 months waiting for the right opportunity. Talk about incredible!

We continued exploring around the lake for a couple of hours and ate our picnic lunch we'd packed. The whole time neither one of us could wipe the grin from our face.  After lunch we left and hopped on a bus within 10 minutes of walking out the gate! Luck was on our side. 

All in all this day was perfect. 

The weather was incredible, the park was beautiful and to top it all off it looks like I'm going to be spending a little more time with Sean! Who would've guessed!

We arrived in Riobamba after a long 6hr bus through winding Andean roads. Plenty of crying kids and mums making me want to cry by blasting more Reggaeton from their tinny little phone speakers. Anyway, it only cost $8 per person! 

We got dropped off at an intersection on the outskirts of town and eventually found a cab who took us to Hostel Oasis. This was a cute and clean little family run hostel with 2 friendly resident pooches. We dropped our bags off and went for a walk.

Eventually we found the offices for ProBici - a mountain bike tour company we had emailed previously about doing a day trip cycling down Ecuador’s highest mountain. Chimborazo is a dormant volcano 6268m high, but due to the equatorial bulge, it’s summit is the farthest point from the centre of the earth. 

We had a meeting with the main man at ProBici and got fitted out with a bike, gloves, pads and a lid. We agreed on a 6:30am pick up for the next morning to head up to nearby Chimborazo. After we got a bite to eat and an early night. Unfortunately that night poor Bec developed a sick tummy - whether from a bug or food poisoning we still don’t know. 

The next morning we woke up and Bec was still feeling rubbish, so she understandably pulled the plug and opted for a day in bed to rest whilst I didn’t want to lose both of our deposits and went on the tour. 

Myself and the other cyclist - Brice from France - got picked up by our guide Diego in a 4wd Hilux and began to head up towards the base camp of Chimborazo. We made several stops to check out a canyon, a through section of some ancient eruptions, a fighting bull farm and a cute little family of Vicuñas. 

Eventually we pulled up at the first base camp around 4800m above sea level. We were surrounded by snow. And nearly on the equator! Mind blown. We jumped out of the car, layered up and began a slow trudge through the ankle deep snow up towards the second base camp. Although it took a while, I was feeling pretty good considering we had been at sea level less than a week ago and I had forgotten to take my Diamox (sorry Mum!)

After finishing our 2 weeks of Spanish in Montanita we headed onwards to the colonial city of Cuenca. We booked at Alternative Hostel, and were not disappointed. Anytime we get a private room in a hostel that is clean and has a fully equipped kitchen for $10 each we're happy! 

The hostel wasn't in the city centre but close enough to walk within 10 minutes. The first day we arrived we checked out the local area and did a self guided tour. 


We visited the old town, the colonial buildings and the multiple churches in the area. The buildings were very beautiful and had a very European vibe.