Due to my decision to cancel Venezuela, I went to Quito (Ecuador) for some more relaxing time. Therefore, I did not take that many tours. On the first day, I walked around in the historic city center, and actually, I would call Quito the city of churches. Only the historic part of the city has more than 30 churches—some impressive, some relatively minor and unimpressive.
Other tourists told me that the Otavalo market is a must-do on a Saturday morning. Otavalo Market is one of South America’s largest and most famous indigenous markets. It is a great place to buy traditional handicrafts, textiles, and clothing. Visitors can also find various food, produce, and other goods at the market. So I went on a bus for 2 hours to see what it was all about. And yes, it’s HUGE… But was it worth spending the time on the bus? I am not sure…
The only tour I booked was a tour to visit Cotopaxi and Quilotoa.
Cotopaxi is one of the world’s highest active volcanoes, standing at an impressive 19,347 feet (5,897 meters) tall. It is located in the Cordillera Central mountain range of the Andes in Ecuador, about 50 kilometers south of the capital city of Quito. Actually, I could see him smoking from the balcony of my apartment…
Within a day tour, I visited this vulcano. Unfortunately, hiking up there is not allowed as the vulcano is currently getting more active. Nevertheless, the area around the volcano is stunning. Next to Cotopaxi, two other inactive vulcanos are observable.
So we went to a picture spot and drove further to a second point: Quilotoa, a volcanic caldera with a stunning view located in the Andes. It measures 3km wide, and as the last eruption was in the 17th century, you will find a very calm, beautiful lake inside the crater today. You can walk down the crater to get to the water; I also saw some boats on the lake. Unfortunately, our tour guide gave us the wrong information about the time it takes to get down and up again. He said it’s most likely three times the time going up than going down. I agree, it’s very steep, and as the ground is white sand (like on a beach), it’s also difficult to walk. We got less than two hours before the bus left again. Therefore, we returned after 25 minutes of walking down (approximately two-thirds of the way). Unfortunately, we were up again after 30 minutes, so the guide was wrong. It’s possible to get to the water and back in 2 hours!
On my last full day in Quito, I went up with the TelefériQois, a gondola lift running from the edge of the city center up the east side of Pichincha Volcano, an inactive volcano. You could do some hiking tours there, which might take the whole day, or paraglide or cycle down. I took none of these options; I just went up there for stunning views.
All in all, I liked Quito.
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