Hiking From Village to Village

Within the Quilitoa region, South of Quito, lies a patchwork quilt of farmlands that creates an eye-catching display of varying shades of green. The hills fold into each other where in-between the layers reside local communities and basic farm living. This region is the only area within Ecuador in which one can easily hike from village to village and stay the night in each one. I have never claimed to be a hiker, but I always love a challenge and the opportunity to take in some breathtaking scenery. I thought about hiring a local kid to show me the way so I wouldn't get lost or if I fall down another mountain, at least there would be someone there to witness and hopefully seek help after. However, I met a couple Swiss guys, Remo and Stephen and we joined up to hike the region together.

We took a local bus to Isnivli and stayed at a hostel there where we met up with a Dutch couple who also joined us. The next day, the 5 of us, with rough directions on how to get to the next town embarked on our hike. The hike itself wasn't challenging, but we often became lost along the way. We backtracked several times and split up a few times to scout the different paths. After about 5 hours and tons of patchwork quilt photos later, we came upon the next town, Chugchilian.




The next morning, the Dutch couple had to bus back due to bronchitis and so Remo, Stephen and I hiked up to the volcanic crater of Laguna Quilitoa to reach the next town. I often encouraged Remo and Stephen to hike without me since I was so slow, but they insisted on staying with me. I'm glad they did because I really enjoyed their Swiss humor and their laid back attitude. Stephen kept explaining to me how to breathe since I apparently don't know how. I'm not sure how I lived so long without this knowledge. He has a heart condition and so he has learned the proper way to breathe using long and slow breaths while hiking up whereas I sound like a canary flapping away for short breaths of excited air.






Reaching the top after the 1000m canyon hike up only took 5 hrs using mainly my mental strength. At the top, I laid down on the ground to celebrate my victory and to recover since we still had to hike the crater rim to get to the next town. When I scaled the innerside of the vocanic crater while holding onto dear life to get to the next side, Remo and Stephen told me that I may be small, but I sure have an incredible will power and courage. They were surprised that I didn't go around to the safer back side of the trail. Honestly, I was just being lazy and didn't want to go around the boulder when I could just climb across it instead. I think they had taken the easier path and cheered me from above when they saw that I was scaling the crater.

We made it to the next village of Laguna Quilitoa, and then took a bus down back to our original starting point. We had hiked the two major paths around the loop and that was good enough for all of us.