Final excursion before leaving Ecuador: Quilotoa Crater Lake, Riobamba, Guano

Thursday morning I picked up a rental car from Cuenca Car Share cuencacarshare.com, and my wife and I were off to Riobamba.  If you ever are in need of a rental car in Cuenca, this is the company to use; Juan is helpful, friendly, and gives great advice whether on places to stay or eat, or how best to deal with a 'documents check' run by the police.  Now that the rainy season is officially here, we were held up at least an hour due to driving at extremely slow speeds through the Andes Mts.; thick clouds set in, prohibiting seeing further than 10 meters at times.  

We stayed in a fantastic hotel blocks away from the city center, Casa 1881 casa1881.com.  The owner, Santiago, pretty much runs the hotel by himself.  Which is going to run him into the ground eventually, I think.  He's only 29, but has the charm and character of an experienced hotelier.  He greeted my wife by name as she walked in, though having never met her; there weren't that many check-ins Thursday, but he still showed great initiative in familiarizing himself with who was expected.  He spoke perfect English, but has never visited the U.S.  The hotel had previously been a historic house, which he spent two years renovating.  It retained its colonial feel, had 20ft ceilings, vintage furniture and decor, yet modern amenities such as Apple TV and Netflix in the rooms, which he was VERY proud of.  Some of the decorations included a vintage Brownie Bullet Kodak camera, an old short-wave radio, and this piece of pop culture adorning one of the chairs...

That night we walked around the town a bit, happening upon this parade, a version of which occurs every day from Dec. 26 to Jan. 6.  It's all about celebrating the birth of Jesus... 

The following morning we drove a short distance to the town of Guano, which was renown for its artisan rug makers.  Many of the rug makers have found other work, due the import of cheap Chinese rugs rendering them irrelevant.  We were fortunate in that we found a fourth-generation rug maker in the first shop we entered, who, according to him, allegedly made a rug for the Pope, who did visit Ecuador last year.  He proudly showed us a photo of the rug and the blueprint from which he worked.  We were hoping to find someone who could make a Persian-style rug, without having to pay the thousands of dollars a nice Persian rug would normally cost.  Our fourth-generation rug maker make it clear he could not replicate the detail found in Persian rugs, as 1000 thread looms were used to make los rugs, and Ecuadorian rugs typically were 400-count loom.  Our rug was going to be much thicker and softer, however, as he used real wool, and a looser weave, but we were only going to get a life expectancy of approx. 50 years out of the rug.  Which is about all I need.  We placed an order and will return in about six weeks to pick it up.  I'll post an update w/photo of his handiwork.  

Later in the morning we drove to Quilotoa, specifically the Quilotoa Crater Lake, which according to at least one online publication is one of The 15 Most Beautiful Crater Lakes In The World...twistedsifter.com.  We knew it was going to be spectacular, but WOW!  We started hiking around the crater rim, but got turned back by some threatening storm clouds.  The crater lake was formed approx. 800 years ago when after a violent eruption, the Quilotoa volcano collapsed in upon itself.  Pyroclastic flows and lahars from the eruption reached the Pacific, some 110 miles away.  The lake itself is over 820ft deep.  

Presenting... Quilotoa Crater Lake!

hiking around the crater rim

still hiking... loving the cloud formations!

a valley as seen from the trail around the crater

piece of the crater wall

all sorts of greens seen in the water... depending on sun rays reflecting, clouds...

me trying not to get a sunburn on my noggin

The next morning the sky had cleared up a bit, affording us a view of two volcanic mountains in the distance, Illiniza Sur and Illiniza Norte.  Illiniza Sur is the snow-capped peak, as its microclimate contains a greater deal of humidity.  In ancient times the two mountains were one volcano, but eventually split into two (two mountains, not two volcanoes!).  

That's my wife... 

Illiniza Norte (on left) and Illiniza Sur (on right)... in background

On the way outta town, we passed through the village of Zumbahua, where their Saturday market was in full swing.  Having never tried red bananas before (I've read they are delicious), I found some but was told I could not buy a few, only the whole bunch.  Best $2 I ever spent!