Having left the cloud forest we started our journey towards the avenue of the volcanoes but firstly we visited the market at Otavalo which is said to be the largest market in the whole of South America. The way to Otavalo involved journeying back towards Quito and then to the north-east and we reached this pleasant town around midday with William “letting us off the leash” for a couple of hours to enjoy the many stalls and do some essential (in S’s case) souvenir shopping. After lunch here we continued to visit the village of Peguche home of the traditional weaving where we were given a demonstration of the different looms still used and where R modelled a poncho and woollen mask which of course resulted in some very amusing photos. Tempted by a wall hanging we then watched the final touches being put to our purchase involving sewing on tassles to the bottom and we are looking forward to seeing it in place in Saffron Walden in a couple of weeks’ time.
Our overnight stop was in a beautiful hacienda (Cusin) which is owned by an Englishman and his American wife, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens and was at one time a monastery which explained the numerous religious paintings and artefacts, we had dinner watched by a painting of Salome holding the head of John the Baptist! Before dinner, we sampled, at William’s suggestion a local drink (Canelaso) which was very nice but a strange pre-dinner drink, as it was hot and served in tea cups. The concoction of a tea made with herbs and fortified with sugar cane spirit was very welcome to enjoy before a roaring log fire as the cold of the mountain night drew in.
Sadly we only had one night at Cusin and we left early the next day after enjoying breakfast in the same splendidly feudal surroundings as we dined. Our route took us back to Quito (where we had an unexpected meeting with William’s wife and 2 young children in a supermarket where we bought the ingredients for our picnic lunch) and then into the national park of Antisana, one of many volcanoes in the region of Quito, but dormant. We drove up through a beautiful valley to a lake from where we did a short walk up to a place where we ate our lunch in sight of Antisana, whose summit was becoming clearer by the minute. Further progress upwards was ruled out on the grounds of altitude (S was starting to feel some of the symptoms she had left behind weeks ago in Puno and R was also conscious of the lack of oxygen). When we left we were able to enjoy a virtually clear view of the summit.
On the way down, R received a text from Mark with the news that Spurs had thrashed Wigan by 9 – 1, a near record score for the Premiership and Jermain Defoe was toasted at dinner for his 5 goals. How events 6,000 miles away in North London can assume such importance, but that is the enduring appeal and addiction of football.
Our destination was another hacienda, La Cienega, another feudal pile, with large rooms and log fires downstairs but curiously spartan rooms upstairs.
The next day also was a visit to a volcano, this time Cotopaxi, the tallest active volcano in the world (5897m). But unfortunately the weather was against us on this occasion and we were only able to glimpse the lower parts of the glacier when the cloud lifted briefly. We had a very pleasant walk around a lake at just over 3800m and were able to see a lot of birds but not much volcanic landscape. We returned for lunch and then spent a pleasant afternoon and evening lazing in front of a blazing log fire.
Monday saw better weather for the continuation of our journey south along the avenue of volcanoes and our detour to Lake Quilotoa, a lake in the crater of an active volcano. The road leads to the top of the crater at 4,000m and a panoramic view of the lake 350m below and apparently 500m deep. The path around the rim takes about 5 hrs to walk, but we opted for the walk down to the lake which took about 30 mins. There we were able to edge along and down a very steep rock face to view at close quarters hot sulphurous gases bubbling up from the rocks and into the lake. We then opted out of the hike back up to the top by hiring a horse (for S) and a mule (for R). This was not as easy as it sounds (although we both had no regrets, given the steepness of the path and the altitude) as there was no saddle and only a rope bridle to hold onto. The animals needed some persuasion to keep going to the top but seemed to respond quite well to a shout of “Vamos!” or “Pasa!” but still needed plenty of stops. We were both quite saddle sore by the time we reached the top and any idea of taking up horse riding as a hobby when we got back to England had totally disappeared from our minds.
We had lunch at the top in a small restaurant in the company of a group of Russians. We had met various nationalities on our travels, particularly Americans, British, Australians, Dutch, Germans and French, but this was our first encounter with anyone from Eastern Europe. Also the Spanish have been conspicuous by their absence, particularly given their link of language and culture, but perhaps embarrassed by their forebears’ lamentable behaviour in this part of the world.
We then proceeded on our journey to the Hacienda Leito near the village of Patate and arrived here enjoying the most spectacular views of the still active volcano Tungurahua from which you can see plumes of smoke emerging from the crater quite clearly – a sight which almost takes your breath away. The volcano last erupted in 1999 and after a period of 4 months the people were allowed to move back into their homes. No one is allowed to climb the volcano now for obvious reasons and the whole area is at risk although we were assured our hacienda was “in the safe zone”! It was a beautiful place to stay complete (much to S’s delight) with two dogs (bull terriers) one of whom was a real treasure and we were given the biggest hotel room so far which contained 3 beds! We were the only ones in the hotel that night but were served a delicious meal in front of a roaring fire.
The following day we were to visit the town of Banos and were about to leave he hacienda when we were asked if we would give an interview (!) to a reporter from the main national newspaper (El Comercio) who happened to be there to talk to the owner about the hotel which made for an interesting few minutes and a challenge to our Spanish. Her photographer took what seemed to be numerous photos of us in various places to accompany the article which was to appear in the travel supplement. The second time on this trip we have felt like celebrities!
Having left the hacienda which was without mobile phone coverage R found that he received a text from Mark asking if we could talk as soon as possible (at the time a bit worrying) and not long afterwards S also received a similar message so R having asked Mark to call then had to ask William (our guide and driver) to pull over so that we could take the call. But far from being bad news, we were thrilled to be told that Mark and his girlfriend Rach had become engaged the previous evening – we will always remember where we were when we were told this happy news – and the rest of the day was spent with the sound of wedding bells ringing in S’s ears.
We then proceeded to visit a couple of beautiful waterfalls just outside the town, one which we took a cable car across the river to see and the other we walked down to and then scrambled through a cave to get even closer to – this one was much higher and the spray from the pool into which the water fell rose high into the air. It was called “The Devil’s Cauldron” because of the face you could see in the rocks next to it, we also got rather wet in the process of viewing it. Lunch was taken in Banos after a quick dip in the hot springs (and a brief dip in the cold pool/shower) and then a relaxing afternoon in the hacienda which boasted a wonderful swimming pool and gym. Finally, another very good meal served by the women dressed in traditional dress before bed in the massive room warmed by a log fire lit whilst we were having dinner.
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