Sunday, July 23, 2006

Saquisili & Quilotoa lake circuit (20-22/Jul/06)

Latacunga, Ecuador

20 eggs: $1
2 live chickens: $5
Young goat: $30
Adult sheep: $60
Adolescent pig: $100
Bundle of cattle fodder: $0.90

No molten lava from Tungurahua (parents heave a sigh of relief) so we headed off at a stupid hour of the morning to the Saquisili Thursday market. The above is a short price list of the type of stuff you can get there. Had loads of fun with all the farmer Giles' of the area. We decided to ditch the Saturday market in Otavalo as it's mostly for tourists and full of handicrafts (which we ain't gonna buy), and head off to nearby lake Quilotoa, which is basically a huge crater filled with water. Quite an amazing sight. Then we caught another bus and spent the evening in a small town called Chugchilan. The next day we did a trek circuit of a few hours, passing by a cheese factory (yummy - it was closed but luckily a local guide was there and he rushed off to fetch the owner) and we would have sidetracked a bit into a cloud forest if we hadn't got lost (again). Finished back in Chugchilan for a deserved shower and rest. And I managed to finish, at long last, a book that was getting on my nerves and seemed never-ending: the open veins of South America by Eduardo Galeano, basically a left-wing rant on why South America is economically in the shits (written 1971 with a 1978 addition).

The next day, to avoid the only bus back at 3am, we hopped on to the most amusing form of transport we've been on so far, the local milk truck. It was on its way to the next village which luckily had a celebration on. We piled into the back with an English couple also staying at our hotel, plus an assortment of country folk. Every now and again we'd stop to pour milk into huge vats from various people that would suddenly appear on the road out of nowhere. The village fair was in full swing, with a volleyball match on (quite a big sport in Ecuador, especially in this region). There was also a bullfight on in a makeshift wooden bullring but we had to leave to catch the last bus back to Latacunga.

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