Quilotoa Crater

Trip Start Apr 02, 2008
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Trip End Jul 31, 2008


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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Continuing around the Quilotoa circuit, we arrived at the Quilotoa Crater. Quilotoa is a water-filled volcanic crater in the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The diameter of the crater 3 kilometres (2 miles) wide and was formed after the collapse of the volcano following a catastrophic eruption about 800 years ago. The last eruption was in 1785, and since then the crater has accumulated a 250m (820ft) deep lake which is greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals.

The Quilotoa Crater was so unexpectedly beautiful (it is barely mentioned in the guide book) that it took our breath away when we frist saw it, there was also hardly any tourists there which was an added bonus. Around the rim of the crater there were an amazing amount of flowers in blue, yellow, violet, white, orange and red, we also came across various locals grazing their llamas, horses and sheep. I managed to make it down to the bottom of the crater, although it was hell to climb back up. Unfortuantely, Dave feel ill with a horrible cold, and stayed in bed most of the time.

After Quilotoa we took a rather scary bus ride around the moutains to the next village called Chugchilan. Once again, Dave stayed in bed most of the time, although I managed a trek around the local ´grand canyon´.
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