Hiking the Quilotoa Loop - Baños - Cuenca

After enjoying the Quilotoa crater lake so much, we wanted to hike the complete loop, 60km zigzagging through the Andes. We chose the 'easier' option, which tends to go downhill and started at the crater lake. The first day, about 17km, was the most beautiful and loneliest in terms of scenery, we didn't encounter any other gringos along the way. Since you're walking through a cooled volcanic area, it's veery sandy, which means you take one step forward and slide three steps back uphill, but you can go sandboarding downhill :-) and B but the volcanic foothills also have the peculiarity that you suddenly find yourself at the end of a plateau and it's 400 meters steeply downhill into a valley. When you ask the locals for directions, they just say 'down there and up again over there'... I was 1000% sure that I would never go down there and especially not up again, but, I did it, and not just in one valley ;-) we kept feeling like Frodo on a quest, the landscape had a touch of the Shire and our feet looked very hobbit-like after the second day!

The hostels in the villages along the loop are gringolandia but totally cute and nicely furnished, especially the 'little llama' in Isinlivi was great, not only because of the Bernese mountain dog Balu and the llama Tito but also because of its compost toilet with a live view of the Andes! On the last day, we didn't have good weather anymore, but that wasn't so bad because we only had 12km ahead of us.

We wanted to take it easy in Baños to give our battered hobbit feet a rest, but Baños is surrounded by waterfalls worth climbing, viewpoints, and tree swings, so there wasn't much time for relaxation. At the big Pailón del Diablo waterfall, we got soaking wet, despite our rain jackets, but it was so worth it! I had seen a picture of this waterfall on Pinterest at some point and had wanted to go there ever since, check!! The next highlight, which I had been annoying Tömmi with for 2 years, was the tree swing at Casa de árbol, where you can swing and see the Tungurahua volcano across the valley: swinging - check, seeing the volcano - :-((

Tömmi actually wanted to climb the currently active Tungurahua, but unfortunately, like at Cotopaxi, we had bad weather and just postponed the visit to the volcano to our next trip to Ecuador ;-) One thing is already certain, we definitely have to come back to Ecuador. We might say that about every country, but Ecuador has already fascinated us so much that it certainly won't be our last visit!

On our last morning in Baños, we wanted to visit the famous hot volcanic springs that give the town its name: the alarm clock was set for 05.00 in the morning and then off to the bathroom... Yes, it's already hellishly crowded at that time and you have to be lucky to find a spot in the hot water. The supervisor of the pool is also a very special person: you can't get in without a swimming cap!! So we bought a bright pink swimming cap for 50 cents, very stylish, and went into the pool. But NO, first we had to shower under the waterfall... Okay, then we were finally allowed in the water! Tömmi, the old leather skin, even managed to stay in the 50-degree hot hellish pool, but I spared myself the purgatory.

From Baños, we took an 8-hour bus ride southward over the Andes to Cuenca, the Pearl of the South. Cuenca is quite an expensive hipster city, but it immediately captivated me. Because the new cathedral has to remain the tallest building, there are no high-rise buildings here, unlike in Quito, and the beautiful old colonial houses are still well preserved. The people from Cuenca are quite superstitious, or rather, indigenous herbal medicine has strongly mixed with Christian belief here. For example, there is a Carmelite order here, where the nuns, as soon as they join the order, are never allowed to have contact with the outside world again, they cook old black dogs and make a medicine against coughs and asthma from them :-) The brew is sold through a kind of vending machine in the chapel. For internal cleansing, there is also a dark red, foul-smelling concoction, a kind of instant rosary. What they didn't tell me while drinking it: There's apparently a lot of valerian in it... And here I was already wondering why I suddenly started taking my midday nap in my life :-)

Short addition by Tömmi: The good nuns from the monastery apparently not only cook black dogs but also make an excellent bird jam, which possesses unexpected healing powers. There are also strong rumors that all the ladies wear a bald head. I find it quite astonishing how old traditions and the Catholic Church mix here and yet everyone finds it somehow normal.

But it's not only the nuns who have dedicated themselves to herbal medicine here, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there are also the so-called 'bruja', 'witches', who free the children of the people of Cuenca from the 'evil eye'. The child is shaken, brushed with bundles of herbs, and rubbed with a raw egg, which is then cracked into a glass. Depending on how the egg wobbles in the glass, the bruja knows what kind of illness it is. By consuming the egg from the bruja, the children are then healed. The threefold crossing oneself with soot and the payment at the end is important. Under no circumstances should you say 'thank you', otherwise, the child will get sick again... Well, other countries... but the people of Cuenca really believe in it and many have told us that they themselves were regularly freed from the 'evil eye' as children and passed that on to their children as well.

But Cuenca not only has 'superstition', Panama hats (the Panama hat actually comes from Ecuador and especially from Cuenca) and a great old town, but it is also located on the edge of the beautiful Cajas National Park. Since you easily get lost on the muddy terrain of the area with over 200 lakes, we booked a tour that was worth every penny. Our guide Milton knew everything about every blade of grass and little animal, and even showed us the fairytale paper forest. The photos show what it looks like there.

Short addition by Tömmi: On the last day in Cuenca, we visited the city's zoo, a few minutes away, to see some animals that we couldn't find in the cloud forest and rainforest. The zoo is beautifully located on a hill, and the animals live in their natural environment in very spacious enclosures. Furthermore, almost all the animals have been rescued from impossible situations or taken in and nursed back to health in the zoo after severe injuries from poachers. In addition, there are some animals such as monkeys and parrots that are allowed to move freely in the area. Like a group of capuchin monkeys, who apparently went to school with Pippi Longstocking. The idea of having my second breakfast in their territory turned out to be not very glorious, as my jam sandwich turned into a fierce battle after the first bite. Surveillance camera images will follow ;-)

Tomorrow we will finally go to the coast to Guayaquil, where hopefully it will be a bit warmer, we have had enough of the changeable and rather cold Andean climate now.