Quilotoa loop and Quito, Ecuador

After having extended our stay on Galapagos we realised that we would have to become backpackers on speed! (upscale from backpackers on the run). We caught a bus up to Latacunga, which was the start of our Quilatoa (half)loop.
We arrived at Latacunga late that night and crawled off the bus tired from fun and sun at Galapagos (*sigh* ...yes and sea... But Matt and Andrew that doesn't make it funsunsea!). Anyway we managed to find a hostel with an available room but when it came to pay we realised that our money belt was missing from the daypack! What!! That is IMPOSSIBLE! We treat that thing like a baby - its sits on our lap on long bus rides, it gets strapped into the chair at every restaurant... (anyway the money belt was pulled out the bag along with our jackets.)
Tim raced back to where the bus had dropped us off but it had already driven onto its new venue and the only employee doing the midnight shift's dead pan face didn't provide much hope of ever getting it back. *POOF!* US$400 gone as well as all MY ID docs, drivers, bank cards etc. Oh well. Expensive bus trip.
We continued with our plan to do the loop de loop in 2 days instead of the recommended 3 (after all it's only a total of 200km round trip). We headed to a village called Quilatoa which has a volcano caldera with a 250m deep crater lake in the middle. The lake has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. It was very picturesque and we opted for a peaceful stroll down the very steep path and the asthma hike back up! After reaching the top we asked around as to how we catch the bus to Day 2's place on the loop (Chugchilan) as it didn't look very far on the map - the answer was a 10km hike which has to be started before midday due to thick mist, steep cliff edges and basically not a very well marked trail or tomorrows bus. Right! Furthermore the bus (actually milk truck) to Latacunga via Sigchos for Day 3 of the loop leaves at 3am from Chugchilan. Riiigght... hmmm so 2days is out of the question. The high lands of Ecuador were scenic but very similar to that of Peru, so we decided the pretty but familiar scenery didn't warrant a sacrificed day in Colombia. So at 4pm we negotiated staying with a local family at Quilatoa for the night with the plan to catch the same bus back to Latacunga. Damn! So we only did half a loop - why only 1 friggin bus and at 3am!

Back at Latacunga we arranged a bus to Quito (Ecuador's capital) but not before popping into visit employee of the month at the bus company...who really did become employee of the month! He returned our money belt with all my ID docs, drivers, bank cards etc less US$200. I guess a reward which he took upon himself to distribute - I didn't care! US$200 is a fair price to pay to avoid those home affair and traffic dept queues!

In Quito we were transported back in time as we marveled at all the beautiful buildings, cobbled stone roads and plazas. We even squeezed in a gondola ride up to the mountain side with panoramic city views before catching the bus up to the Colombian border. Quito reminded us of Buenos Aires. The well preserved buildings all reflected the past mixed European influence and the infrastructure was well laid out and pretty easy to use. We visited only a few of Quito's 5000 properties listed for historic value. Our favourite was the neo-Gothic Basilica, which has two 115m towers. Tim climbed all the way to the tippie top while I drew the line at the bell tower after looking at the unsecured wooden plank which streams of tourists are expected the walk across in mid air like a trapeze artist! The other interesting site was the baroque style Church of La Compañía de Jesús which supposedly has 7tons of gold gilded on the walls, ceiling and alters. While you would expect this to be truly magnificent, it really was more impressive in theory. There were many other beautiful buildings but we soon gave up trying to view them all as they started to blur into one, Spanish, baroque, Italian renaissance style church.

At the border we ended up having to stay that night on the Ecuadorian side as we only arrived after dark and it was not recommended to travel by road at night in the south of Colombia so early start the next morning.