Otavalo
Ecuador
Otavalo was a large bustling town in the middle of a series of volcanoes, the most imposing being Volcan Imbabura. While the summit was covered in cloud, its slopes tantalised us with the hiking expedition we had planned. The centre of Otavalo was a well-maintained, orderly market area, but just one street out on either side was chaos. Cheap goods spilled out onto the streets, locals filled the sidewalks, and vendors shouted constantly about whatever wares they were selling. We became entangled in this as we attempted to buy ingredients for dinner, ending up with a bunch of spinach that could feed 20 people, as well as a huge bag of strawberries for only 50 cents.
The weather gods were still against us again. Clear and sunny yesterday, dark and foreboding today. It didn't stop us going out for a hike around Laguna Cuicocha, a crater lake that sits about 3,200 m above sea level. It would be nice to have just one hike on this trip with blue skies. The taxi dropped us off at the main lookout, where there was a gloomy view of grey water topped with grey clouds. After only a kilometre of walking we were also in the clouds, with nothing to see but white.
The first 4 km went straight up, our lungs suffering at the high altitude. To distract myself I took photos of the berries and wide variety of flowers lining the path, things I usually wouldn't glance twice at. When the track finally started descending we were offered a misty glimpse of the lake, but it was quickly swallowed up again. It wasn't until we were three quarters of the way around the 12.5 km trail that we found a clear view - even a couple of blue patches of sky came into sight. By the time we arrived back at the start, it was completely grey again.
We didn't encounter another soul the whole way around. I guess no one else was stupid enough to undertake this hike in such depressing weather. The positives we could take away from the morning were that we gained much needed altitude acclimatisation (critical for our upcoming hikes), and the constantly changing terrain and scenery made it an interesting hike overall.
Otavalo has one of the biggest handicraft markets in South America, held in the middle of town every Saturday. We weren’t going to be here on the weekend, so we settled for a Wednesday instead, supposedly the second busiest day. Apparently we arrived a little early, as many stalls were still being set up. Despite this, it still felt underwhelming. It really wasn't that large, being contained to the centre square, and the stalls seemed to repeat the same items: woollen clothes, rugs, bags, jewellery and dream catchers. None of these appealed to us. We did a quick loop then left.
I asked Google Maps to show us the way to El Lechero, a lookout point above the town. I'm sure it took us via the cross-country route rather than the paved roads. We climbed steep, barely visible dirt and grass tracks past sparse farms, with almost no one around except for a couple of villagers taking their cows out for a feed. Was this really going to take us to our destination? The answer was yes, but I wasn’t sure it was worth it. The town of Otavalo was too far away to see clearly, in the other direction Lago San Pablo was blocked by trees, and all the distant volcanoes were hidden underneath clouds. It was another place we didn’t stay long.
The route to Cascada de Peguche was more straightforward and definitely more of a well-trodden trail. It was all downhill and through serene countryside, but we were running late at this stage so we didn't have time to appreciate it. The falls themselves were stunning and appeared taller than any we saw in Mindo. Trying to take photos from the main viewing platform proved challenging, due to the spray coming directly off the cascade. A higher lookout was less wet but partially obstructed by a boulder. Climbing up higher, another path led us to the river that fed into the cascade. Here we found a dark, narrow cave I could barely squeeze through. If I was willing to get wet and wade through the water, there might have been more to see (I wasn’t). The surrounding landscape was just as attractive as the falls, but with time against us we didn't have the opportunity to explore further trails in the park.
Volcan Imbabura, staring over us in Otavalo, was our next hiking mission. The day before we travelled to the city of Ibarra, on the other side of the volcano to Otavalo. Ibarra is known as the 'White City' due to its colonial whitewash buildings that dominate the old town. Walking around this area we passed several impressive churches and quiet parks, but the overall feel was of a gritty, hard-working city. It didn't hold our attention for long.
Reaching the start of the hike was an ordeal. Everything we read online said to make your way to a town called La Esperanza, where you will find taxi trucks and guides aplenty. A short Uber ride dropped us off in La Esperanza, where we found almost no people and no taxi trucks. We wandered around for a long time before flagging down a regular taxi to at least take us further down the highway to the turn off to the volcano. With a bit of persuasion in broken Spanish and English, we managed to convince the driver to turn down the hilly, cobbled road so we could get as close to the start as possible. We had no idea how far he was prepared to drive. In the end he dropped us off just 1 km from the entrance - perfect. It didn't concern us that there were no guides around. We were content to hike alone.
By some sort of miracle there were blue skies above us when we commenced. For the first time in 4 days we could actually see the top of the mountain. We had no idea which of the several peaks we were heading towards but that didn't matter. At the end of the road we found the start of the trail, where a narrow, grassy path led straight up the volcano at an increasing angle. Less than half an hour later the clouds rolled in. From this point on, views were limited.
There were 2 summits on the map: the first summit (4,530 m) then the true summit (4,640 m). Reaching the true summit was almost impossible without a guide, due to the lack of a trail and the dangerous rock climbing involved. As we didn't have a death wish, we settled for the first summit, just over 100 metres below the true summit. The distance was less than 5 km from our start point, but with over 1,300 metres of ascent it wasn't going to be a walk in the park (despite being a walk in the park). We decided to make it slightly more difficult by getting lost about 2 km in, taking multiple attempts to find the correct path going up. Maybe a guide might not have been the worst idea.
Once we were on the right track our heart rates soared with the ever increasing incline and altitude. Every now and then a break in the clouds revealed just how much further we had to climb, which never seemed to be drawing closer. At about the 3.5 km mark we entered the clouds ourselves, and that was it for views.
Only a few hundred metres before the end we hit the rocks, which involved a ton of scrambling with both hands and feet, as well as constantly guessing which way the trail was going (the answer was always ‘up’). It was a full 4-limb effort to drag ourselves up the slope, my hands freezing cold and rubbed raw by the end (Danny was smart enough to bring gloves). An eternity later we arrived, seeing nothing but grey around us and the rocks at our feet. We sat down out of the chilling wind for a well-earned break, hoping the clouds might shift slightly for our benefit. They didn't oblige.
Descending was no easier. Our arms got a serious workout as they cautiously lowered us from one rock to the next. At times Danny had to provide a makeshift ledge with his hands just to give me a solid surface to put my feet on. In total we spent well over an hour in the rocky section, travelling not much more than a kilometre. After this the trail wasn't too bad, despite the steepness. We were back down the bottom before we knew it, without a single wrong turn on the descent. In total we had hiked about 10.5 km (thanks to our getting lost for the extra distance), which, including breaks, had taken 6 hours. It was one of the slower hikes on solid ground I had ever completed, but we were happy to have made it (despite the lack of views) and that it hadn't rained on us. Of course there were no taxis at the bottom, so we walked an extra 5 km back out to the highway, where we found the taxi trucks everyone had talked about online. Not helpful now...
