Leaving Cuenca our journey took us through some incredibly fertile plains and mountain valleys.  The banana plantations were on an industrial scale and full of fruit, in addition there were many other crops and livestock all growing in what looks like very fertile soils.  The amount of agriculture and agribusinesses on our journey up Ecuador is so abundant that it looks like Ecuador could feed a large part of the world and, is with Brazil and Argentina, one of the great agricultural powers of the world.

Our destination was the Cloud Forest Hotel in Chugchilán, which sits on Ecuador’s premier trek, the Quilotoa Loop.  The centrepiece of the trek is the old Quilotoa Volcano, which on its last eruption some 600 years ago blew off its top, and now there is a large crater lake, complete with the steep sides of the remains of the volcano.  The setting is spectacular and the waters of the lake sit at 3,500 metres are deep blues and greens due to the minerals suspended in the water and the rim reaches 3,914m.  The volcano is still notionally active, complete with fumaroles on the lake floor.

The trek takes you round the volcano crater and then down into the surrounding valley.  The rivers are full of water and fast flowing. Alongside the valley and the surrounding mountainsides crops are grown on every available surface other than those that are near vertical.  In addition cattle, sheep, pigs and other livestock graze the grasses.  In addition there is an abundance of wild flowers, especially dark blue lupins and various fragrant herbs.

The trek involved a number of climbs and reached nearly 4,000 metres, but while it clinged the mountainside with some shear drops to the valley floor, it  was not as hard as some of the earlier treks on our journey.

Date: 27/05/2018 to 29/05/2018