Keep your curiosity sacred: our recipe for travel: Ecuador, Part 2 - Magical Mindo to Latacunga, on the Quilatoa Loop

After a few days in the capital, we were ready for some nature. Mindo, a little cloudforest town in the foothills of the Andes, but just 2 and a half hours from Quito, is a birdlovers' paradise. It is a popular day trip from Quito, though other travellers had told us it was worth staying overnight.

Check the Michelin man on the front of our bus to Mindo

We loved the ramshackle little town from the moment we arrived. One night would definitely not do it justice.

We'd booked a couple of nights in a hostel on the river, thinking that Mindo would be a good place to relax for a few days. When we arrived and were greeted by the owner with a fresh lulo juice, the sound of the rushing river below and birds feasting on bananas by the bar area, we couldn't help but accept the offer of an upgrade to the 'suite' for a much reduced price - still pricey, though. I'm a sucker for a hammock with a view.

The 'suite' at Saguamby Hostel

Our snazzy bathroom - 'A bath!' But no plug, alas, so no soaking for us - it's better for the environment, anyway

Our breakfast....

... And the birds' - toucan chowing down on bananas

Blue-grey tanagers sharing a banana

Lemon-rumped tanager

Lizard on a tree by the river - look at that tail

Squatter in our 'suite': how very dare he?

Here's the critter under a glass after we'd captured it.. It'd plummeted onto Alan's head the previous night as he lay in bed. I don't think he'd have been so casual had he seen its face! (Had Alan seen the critter's face, that is.)

There's loads to do in Mindo. Hiking, chocolate tours, cycling, visits to butterfly and orchid farms, birdwatching, ziplining, etc. Just along the river from the hostel, the trail to the waterfalls begins.

5 waterfalls, here we come!

This '88' butterfly has been upgraded to '89'!

Just a few of the hundreds of butterflies on the trails

The waterfalls are reached by hiking to the cable car, in which we zipped over the cloud forest to the various trails.

Here comes our ride - the wire tarabita

View of the lush cloud forest below from the little yellow cage 152 metres above ground

Alan was a trouper, riding in the cage (or tarabita) despite his fear of heights. The view of the river basin and the lush Cloudforest from above was wonderful.

How beautiful is Mindo?

Fern on the way to the cascada

The trails are quite challenging, and if they were in Europe, they would no doubt be peppered with 'Danger' and 'No entry' signs, ropes and railings. No nanny state here, though! The path, very narrow in places rose higher and higher and the drop to the side increasingly precipitous. It was breathtakingly beautiful, densely populated with numerous species of trees, flowers, bromeliads and epiphytes, birds, fungus, and bugs. There were several smaller waterfalls on the way, but we followed the thunderous sound of water pounding the rocks to the big one.

Dodgy stone steps up to the heart of the beautiful and powerful Reina waterfall

Cascada Reina (Queen Waterfall)

We spent ages watching a little black and white bird flitting behind the raging torrent, pecking away, then zipping off to a rock, to a barely visible round, black nest, with a tiny hole at the base, from which minuscule yellow beaks gaped expectantly. Alas, it was too quick and too wet to capture on camera, but it was fantastic to watch - a true David Attenborough moment. How these little birds survive and flourish in such inhospitable conditions is a marvel.

The rain lashed down all the way back, soaking us to the skin, despite our stylish ponchos, though this didn't deter us from hiking to another waterfall, equally stunning. We passed very few other tourists on the whole route.

Cascada Nambillo

Buoyed by the whole Cloudforest experience, we felt sure that this footprint was a that of a puma, at the very least, but the incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable rangers assured us when we excitedly showed them this photo that it was a big bird. Oh well, fascinating anyway.

Puma, jaguar? No, just Big Bird

Next day's hike - birdwatching from Casa Amarilla

At the start of the birdwatching trails

Red banana flower and developing fruit on the Casa Amarilla trail

We fell in love with green and friendly Mindo, but couldn't afford any more time in our 'suite' so we moved into a very reasonably priced, comfortable cabina closer to town, which we'd found online. The owner was a lovely local woman, a bird tour guide and we couldn't believe our luck. Our own very well equipped kitchen, great shower with hot water, washing machine (!) big bedroom, terrace and a garden, with guayaba trees (a delicious fruit).

Alan outside our cosy cabina

Little agouti enjoying the windfall guayaba fruits in the garden

We stayed a happy and comfortable three nights in the little cabina. On our last night, our lovely friends we'd met in Guatemala, Amy and Dom, came for dinner. Like us, they are travelling south and we all happened to be in Mindo at the same time. Yippee! Big coincidence - big Catchup! It was so good to see them and, despite our very early start the next day, we chatted until the wee small hours about our experiences. They'd recently had an awful time at a volunteer placement. Horses had been appallingly treated and two died while they were there as a result of negligence by the owner. They were obviously still traumatised by the whole thing. We would love to volunteer again, but are keen to avoid exploitation, working in hostels, for example, and for ethically suspect organisations and individuals such as Dom and Amy encountered.

At the end of the evening, loving the cabina, Amy and Dom decided to contact the owner to arrange to stay there for a while after we'd moved out. It feels so good when you're travelling to stay awhile somewhere clean, no water stains on the ceiling or crumbling plaster, a comfy bed with nice bedding, a shower with hot water and decent pressure, good internet and no barking dogs to keep you awake all night. This may sound a bit princessy, but .... It's true. Most of the time, we're fine with the very basic hostel experience, but sometimes it's just nice to have some creature comforts.

Having previously not felt the love for Ecuador, Mindo certainly did the job and we were sad to leave.

On to Latucunga

Many travellers we met had 'done', or were about to 'do' the Quilatoa Loop. It's a 200km route taking in remote villages, volcanoes and indigenous markets. Depending on how you choose to access it, experiencing the route can take anything from a day to a fortnight. Everyone we spoke to told tales of chilly days and freezing nights, getting lost, challenging hikes, fantastic, empty landscapes, rides on milk trucks and friendly encounters with indigenous people. We ummed and ah'ed about it, before eventually deciding to travel just to Latacunga, where many start the Loop, to visit the volcano Lake and the 'not to be missed' market of Saquisili.

The town of Latacunga was unprepossessing and unfriendly. Despite the constant influx of hikers, it was surprisingly untouristy and not at all geared up for foreigners' desire for hot dogs and pizzas, or, for that matter, rain ponchos, warm clothes and such. Refreshing, in a way, but also puzzling. We stayed in a very old-school hostel, where the other guests were mostly very earnest hikers, though we were so glad and relieved to meet an incredibly enthusiastic young Canadian couple travelling for the first time and completely devoid of 'cool' and cynicism. They kept in touch, writing that they had a fantastic time, though they admitted to utter exhaustion at the end of the final leg of the Loop.

The town of Latacunga

View from the hostel's roof terrace by day.....

.... And by night

Tantalising glimpses of the tip of the very active volcano, Cotopaxi, from the roof terrace

We suffer for our art. Oh yes. Sitting on the roof terrace, a concrete space with two faded plastic chairs, the relentless, ear splitting, ubiquitous same 2 Ecuadorian pop songs blasting repeatedly from the gym next door, we waited patiently for the snow-capped volcano, Cotopaxi, to emerge from the clouds. Almost.......

Man, the sun's rays were intense up there (but it was freezing at night in our room). Typical high altitude climate

In our chilly hostel room

Images of the Thursday Saquisili market:

Everything was for sale here at the weekly market: animals, new and secondhand clothes, beds, rope, pots, fruit and veg, baskets, bric a brac .... You name it. Bustling, colourful, shocking. Indigenous people gestured emphatically as they haggled for a good price for guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, lambs, calves, quails, puppies and kittens.

South American delicacy, cuy (guinea pig) for sale at the market

This customer was offering $5 for the child's chair - the vendor wanted $6

Panela (loaf sugar) wrapped in coloured palm leaves

Bunnies - pot or pet?

Quilatoa Laguna

Next day, an early bus to the Quilatoa Laguna. Dropped off In the middle of nowhere, the icy wind whistling in our ears, we descended the slippery, stony path down to the crater lake, passing very few others. The light gave a hyper-real effect; the colours of the grass, flowers and sky resembled a Wes Anderson film. Blue lupins dotted the hillside. Far below, the ever-changing hues of the Laguna.

Luminous blue lupins blooming on the side the crater

The long, meandering path down to the Laguna

Horses for rent for the ascent of the steep, stony path from the Laguna

Well worth the climb

Wow

Chilling on the Laguna dock with one of the locals

Working horses taking a well-deserved drink

The one-hour ascent seemed interminable, the loose-stoned path was dusty and slippery and the air very thin due to the altitude, making it difficult to breathe. By the time we reached the top our leg muscles were dancing and we were exhausted, but euphoric. Nothing that a cup of hot chocolate and coca tea in the cosy crater-top hostel couldn't fix.

Cooking snacks in a smoke filled shack by the road on the way back to Latacunga

We enjoyed our couple of days in the Cotopaxi region and did not regret our decision not to hike the Quilatoa Loop. The Laguna was stunning, and the market, though quite distressing at times, witnessing the treatment of animals purely as commodities, was a fascinating insight into local life. Apart from a Scandinavian-looking family, we were the only tourists there, despite the market being described in guidebooks such as the Lonely Planet as 'unmissable'. There seems to be a dearth of tourists generally, maybe as it's low season, but also, possibly, due to the earthquake.

This post's recipe (sort of...)

To end this post, here are some signs spotted in the public toilet at Latancunga bus station. I think we could all learn from this advice. As there are no food recipes in this post, can we cheat and say that this is a recipe for proper etiquette in the use of public toilets?