I traveled with my Dad for a long weekend south of our place to a town called Quilotoa. After 4 hours in the car we stopped to visit the market in Zumbahua. On Saturdays Zumbahua has an amazing Andean open air market. The stands are full of ready made food, knit wraps and plastic shoes and the floors are littered with sheep skulls. It is an experience. We arrived hungry and, as neither of us were that bold, ate granola we had brought and some bananas we bought. It was no sheep head stew, but we were satisfied.
After a stop there and 30 minutes driving in the wrong direction we were finally back on track towards Quilotoa. We arrived in the late afternoon to the beautiful and small town. We checked into Pacha Mama hostel and I visited the reason most people come to visit this small town; the caldera Quilotoa.
The town of Quilotoa lies 1500 ft. above Quilotoa lake. After a strange night of sleep we spent the day hiking down to see the turquoise water from eye level. We spent our late morning and afternoon kayaking, eating crackers and tuna and chilling in the good weather.
After relaxing by the water we rode some tired mules up the hill. I think I may have preferred the walk, even at 13,000 feet. It was such a wonderfully, typical, Andean town and I’m lucky to have visited it with my Father.
