Yesterday, I took a school field trip (just staff, not kids!) to Quilotoa…next time I”ll know to go and spend the night because it was way too long on the bus. 5 hours there, 5 hours back. So we left early in the morning and were making good time. Then we hit a huge traffic jam. The entire Pan American highway shut down a little bit south of Quito. My friend and I got out and just started walking to see what was keeping us from moving. Better than just sitting in the bus, right? So we walked, and walked and walked along with other folks. We passed jam packed cars (like 6 people in the backseat of a tiny tin-can car). Lot of folks in the pack of trucks, animals loaded up for market. The walk actually made me feel better about the situation. Cool fresh air, a little exercise, seeing the sights. When we got to the beginning of the jam (after about 2 miles) we discovered that the cause of the jam was construction…but that was 5 miles up ahead! The police were letting one lane at a time pass by in order to not “overwhelm” the construction site. OK, we got the answer…then it was walking back to the bus. On the way back almost every driver asked, “What’s going on? What’s causing the jam?” It felt good to be the expert for once and be able to tell them what was going on! So, we finally got going again and it was time for an ice cream stop on the way to the Laguna. We stopped at La Avelina where they made rich, creamy vanilla ice cream bars covered with dark chocolate. Homemade ice cream bars on a stick. Yum! (Definitely work the traffic jam!)
Then we turned onto a dirt road for our windy drive up and around and up and around to the volcanic crater lake. Passing by patchwork quilts of mountain crops, thatched roof shacks, beautiful blue mountain sky…we definitely weren’t in Quito anymore! When we finally arrived to Quilotoa we had just enough time to hike down to the shore of the lake then up up up again. Some of my companeros went by mule up, but I learned my lesson last time! It’s much better to have a sore butt because of walking than because of riding a mule J. I’ve been to Quilotoa plenty of times, so for me being there for just one hour wasn’t a big deal…I just feel bad for my teacher friends who traveled such a long way not to be able to enjoy it longer…I told them next time stay in one of the beautiful cabanas around the lake to really enjoy all the hiking in the area.
Then it was time for the long journey back to Quito. (5 hours more!) Good thing I had good company in the bus. I really do enjoy all my teacher friends…such neat people, so we passed the time chatting.
We stopped for dinner at La Cienega an old Spanish style hacienda dating back to the 1700’s. Apparently a lot of important Ecuadorian government documents were drafted and signed there. Also, according to local legend, the entire Hacienda is haunted by ghosts because there were some murders there way back when. The grounds were gorgeous-huge trees, beautiful gardens and old structures on the property. The food was pretty mediocre, disappointing after hiking all day and sitting on the bus, we were all ravenous. Veggie soup, steak (yuck), French fries (who serves French fries at a high class restaurant?) this yucky gelatinous strawberry hot pink dessert. The highlight was the musicians (folklore music with quenas, zamponias, charangos playing Andean music). We got home late to Quito. Over all the trip was worth all the time on the bus, however, I think we should have stayed overnight to break up the travel! Oh well, live and learn, right?
Right! Always.
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