Hi from the crater. It was still pouring when we arrived here at Quilotoa. Locals have taken enormous leaps to benefit from the crater's popularity with viewing platforms and a new path around the crater.
We would have been so absolutely miserable sitting in the back of a truck like drowned rats in the downpour, after being dropped off at a little village in the middle of nowhere. Those days for me are long gone, if they ever existed.
There was a spot of blue sky when we got out of the taxi and then lo and behold the sky opened up for an hour.
The path down to the crater.
The area is indiginous.
The old path around the crater,
and the new one. We didn't mind the improvements at all.
Yellow sulfur at the yedge of the crater.
A new restaurant.
The same crater one hour later.
Two shepherdesses crossing in front of our car with their flock.
The taxi had cameras and a black box. Our driver, Fredy, has a government car tracking system which is connected to police stations. There are also alarm buttons in the car for the driver and passengers. "So, if the driver is drunk or the car is being rammed or broken into, help is available," Fredy said.
A small home along the way.
In the morning, we're heading north to Otavalo -- about five hours by bus. The indiginous in Otavalo are excellent cratspeople and asute in business. They are in the best economic shape of all indiginous peoples in Ecuador.
Incredible highways have been built here during the last three years and everywhere we go we meet a guy or a family just returned from years away working in the U.S. or Spain.
Chao.
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