As I write this, I’m actually on day 4 of my Galapagos cruise, sans Internet, but that’s getting a little ahead of my trip so far. Last you heard from me, I had enjoyed the microbrewery opposite the hostel, and I was plotting how to smother the snoring guy in my dorm. 

Well, a bright and early 7am start saw me on tour again with the Aussie couple. We spent some time at a local market out in the rural area, sampling some amazing deep fried cornmeal fritter stuffed with some sort of cheese. I would’ve taken a photo, but I scoffed it down before I even thought of it. After a deep fried breakfast, we went off to the animal market, which turned out to be a little traumatising. The poor pigs were squealing and chickens were stuffed into hessian sacks, a sheep looked almost trampled to death. But I guess beyond the live animal market, the animals had a pretty idyllic life, completely free range and spending most of their life just grazing on fresh grass. I was pretty excited about seeing llamas though! They were pretty cute.

Leaving the market and heading towards Quilatoa, we made a pit stop along the mountainside to visit a traditional home of the Indigenous people who still live the old way of life. Completely off the grid, in a self made hut. They farm the land they’d been allocated, growing up to 20 different types of potatoes, and bathe in a river nearby. And considering how cold Quito and the highlands are despite being on the equator, guess how they keep their hut warm?! Ok, sure, they have their kitchen fire indoors, but there’s another way they keep their home warm. With cui, Guinea pigs! They literally have Guinea pigs roaming free in their hut, about 150 of them! Apparently they don’t eat Guinea pigs very often, but keep them to sell at the markets, primarily for tourists who are keen to try them. I’m amazed by how far they have to walk to get to the market, and more so, how they’re able to walk back up the mountainside! It’s a long, steep journey. Even the tour van struggled to make it up the incline. But all the women manage to do it, with heavy loads from the market on their back. 

By the time we got to Quilatoa, it was cold. Very cold. And the altitude was starting to kick in. But the view was stunning. I would’ve been happy to just admire the view from the top, I mean, that’s really the best bit isn’t it? But alas, turns out, hiking down was some sort of “thing”. Super steep, and 2 stacks later, I was exhausted just going down! My hiking boots had gone from black to ash grey thanks to the volcanic sand on the path down. As I was hiking down, I was being passed by little kids and older women guiding horses down the crater. Talk about embarrassing, who would’ve thought going downhill would be exhausting? Once at the bottom, I decided not to let my pride get in the way and convince myself of some sort of fitness that would see me not die trying to hike back up. So I hired a horse to get me back up the crater. Heh. Best, and most terrifying US$10 I’ve spent on this trip. I don’t actually think I’ve been on a horse before, so that was an experience in itself. The little kids who had earlier passed me going down the crater, we’re not leading my horse back up the crater. I’d hate to think how many times they have to do the trip every day because of lazy asses like me, but the kids pretty much ran up the damn crater without much difficulty!


By the time I got back to the hostel, I was really hoping the snoring guy would have moved on, but no such luck. He was still lurking around the dorm. Not exactly sure what he was doing in Quito, he didn’t seem to ever leave the hostel.