Quilotoa

Hoolimata sellest, et ma terve laupäeva haigusega võideldes voodis teki all olin ning ei teinud muud kui vaatasin filme ja jõin teed, otsustasin pühapäeva hommikul kell 5.30 kodust väljuda ja Quilotoa’sse sõita. Nimelt kutsus Xime, mu töökaaslane, mind oma ülikooli matkaklubiga kaasa ja ma ei saanud ju ometi minemata jätta J Pakkisin piisava taskurätikute ja lõunasöögi tagavara kaasa ja olingi valmis minema. Nagu kohalikele omane jäid enamik inimesi muidugi hiljaks, ent 3.5 tunni pärast olime kohal.

Teel Quilotoasse tutvustasid teadjamad mulle eemal asuvaid mägesid, millest enamik olid lumega kaetud. Veidi enne laguuni juurde jõudmist sõitsime läbi Zumbahua küla, mis oli pungil pärismaalastest, kes kõik pühapäevaseks turupäevaks valmistusid ja linnatänavatel tantsisid. Ümbruskaudseid mägesid katsid põllud ja maapind oli kohati, ilmselt vihma tõttu, ära vajunud.

Kohale jõudes jagati inimesed(nii umbes 60) kaheks rühmaks, osad valisid lihtsama tee ja laskusid laguuni äärde peesitama, mina, koos 37 ülejäänuga, otsustasin ümber laguuni matkata. Meid hoiatati muidugi ette, et matk kestab umbes 5 tundi, kuna tegemist ei ole mitte lausmaaga... vaid matkaga, mis tähendab 9 kilomeetrit mööda mäeharju üles-alla turnimist. Nagu oleks seitsme mäe otsa roninud J Tee oli kohati üsna olematu, liiv ja sellel lahtised kivid. Mõlemal pool mäeharja järsk langus. Ühel pool avanes vaade laguunile, teisel pool lõpututele mägedele. Ja nii me siis kõndisime, tunde ja tunde. Üksnes üks inimene andis alla, teiste iseloomud ei lubanud J

Kui olime umbes kolmveerand maast läbinud otsustasime mööda mäenõlva diagonaalis alla laskuda ja ka laguuni juures ära käia. Kuna tee alla pidime ise leiutama, siis tuli kohati üsna ekstreemsetest kohtadest üle ronida. Lisaks oleks mõned meist peaaegu jalgpalli suuruse kiviga, mis mäe otsast alla veeres, pihta saanud. Üllataval kombel elas keset järsakut ka üks süsimust härg, kellest riburadapidi mööda hiilisime.

Lõpuks jõudsime laguunini! Vesi oli nii-nii sinine ja õhk uskumatult soe. Üldse päistis terve päeva päike ja oli mõnusalt soe. Puhkasime järve ääres veidi jalgu ning tegime venitusharjutusi ja pidime taas mäkke hakkama ronima. Viimased tund aega tõusu oli matka kõige raskem osa. Ma ei ole vist mitte kunagi niiiii aeglaselt kõndinud, aga üles ma lõpuks jõudsin! J Laguuni ääres olid päris väsinute jaoks ka mõned hobused, kes ainsa transpordivahendina toimisid. Quitosse jõudsime õhtul kell 9, edasi koju jõudmine võttis veel tunni.

Mõnusat uut nädalat soovides,

L.

Teel Quilotoani, Cotopaxi/On our way to Quilotoa, Cotopaxi

Quilotoa

Teel ümber laguuni/On the way around the laguna

Pärismaalased/Indigenous people

Mägi oli kohati üsna järsk/The mountain was quite steep in some parts

9 kilomeetrit ümber laguuni/9 kilometers around the laguna



Sinine vesi :)/ Blue water



5 tundi hiljem/5 hours later

Paadid järve ääres/Boats by the lake

Tõusu lõpp/ The end of the ascent

Despite having spent the whole Saturday in bed being ill and doing nothing other than watching films and drinking tea, I decided to leave the house at 5.30AM on Sunday go to Quilotoa. I just couldn’t not go, because Xime, my coworker, had invited me to go there with her mountaineering club. So, I grabbed lots of tissues and enough food for lunch and I was ready to leave. Lots of people were late as always, it’s Ecuador after all J But we got to Quilotoa in 3.5 hours.

I was lucky to be surrounded by people who love mountains as they could name all the mountains on our way and tell stories about them. We passed some of the highest mountains in Ecuador, most of which were covered by snow. We had to also pass a village called Zumbahua, which was full of indigenous people who were getting ready for the Sunday market and dancing on the streets. The surrounding mountains were covered by fields and there were landslides, possibly due to rain.

We were divided into two groups as soon as we got to Quilotoa. 38 of us, including me, decided to hike around the crater. The rest, about 20, decided to take the easier route and spend the day relaxing  by the lake. We were of course warned that the hike would take about 5 hours as the land was far from being flat. Instead we had to climb up and down the mountains for 9 kilometers. It’s probably equal to climbing  7 mountains J There was almost no road at some parts of our hike and the path was mostly covered by sand and rocks. Since we hiked about 400 meters above the lake, there was the laguna on the one side and a steep declivity with a view on endless mountains on the other. Only one of us gave up, the rest of us couldn’t J

We decided we also wanted to go down to the laguna after we had hiked for about 3.5 hours and so we began descending diagonally until we finally reached the lake. Since there was no path from where we wanted to go, we had to climb over some quite extreme places. Some of us almost got hit by a rock that was falling down the mountain and we all had to pass a bull, who for some reason lived there.

We finally made it though! The water was so-so blue and the air was unbelievably warm. We were lucky with the weather, because it was sunny for the whole day and it was pretty warm. We were given some timeto relax and stretch  by the lake after which we had to climb up the mountain to get back to where we had started. The last ascent was the most difficult part of the day. I don’t think I’ve ever walked soooo slow in my life, but I finally made it! J There were also some horses for the most tired ones, but there was no road for cars. We reached Quito at 9PM from where it took me another hour to get home.

Have a great week!

L.