Tour to Quilotoa Lake (1 Day)

Note: Tour begins at 7:00 am, for the rest of the activities the time is approximate. And it could change while the tour is developing.

The tour begins. We are going to travel for around 3.5 hours, from Quito to Quilotoa Lake. During the travel we are going to visit different places. Like Saquisilí, the Las Cruces community and Quilotoa community.

We have the first technical bus stop, on Saquisilí town. There, you are going to visit the different popular markets of the town.
At the first market, people of the community go there, for selling animals, such as: “Llamas”, pigs, cows, sheep, lambs.

In the second market you are going to observe how the people sell their small animals, like: chicken, “cuy” (guinea pig), rabbits. Also you might observe the different kinds of products for consume of themselves. There, you might observe products, for example: onion, potatoes, tomato, green / red pepper, “mellocos”, and others. Also, you can see different products on the section of the “mercado de pulgas”, where you can find products of second use, with good prices.

On the third market, you are going to find three sections:
First: handicrafts products artisanal, like: clothes made with wool,
Second: That is the section of food, you are going to see the different kind of typical food of the zone.
Third: you are going to see, products like grains, flour of different kind of grains, between others.

Afterwards there is the departure to the “Las Cruces” Community; we are going to be there in approximately 1 hour. You might observe their typical clothes and also you can take a look inside their houses. But the most important thing, is that you are going to be with them in a typical indigenous house made of straw. Sharing with them a few moments talking, watching and learning from them, how their life is, and how they prepare the earth for to sow.

If you want experiment another kind of tourism. It is your opportunity.
We will go to the Quilotoa Lake. We are going to pass the zumbahua community, and finally we are going to arrive to the Quilotoa community, before we go to the lake. We are going to have the lunch. (You might choose one of the three options: llama, chicken, vegetarian food).

Now we continue with traveling, the time for arriving to the lake is approximately 50 minutes (It depends of your fitness). At begging of the down, you are going to have a wonderful view of the lake with a turquoise color. It´s a good moment for taking pictures, after that, we continue following the pad.

When you arrive to the bottom you are going to have moments for walking, near to the water. Also, you are going to smell the minerals which are mixed with the water. If you want, you might rent to the people of the community some small boats for navigating in the lake.

We need continue with our trip, but now we are going to the top, in mules or donkeys. The time for doing it is approximately 40 min. When you arrive to the top, you might buy some handicrafts at the artisanal market of the community. Then, we go back to Quito.

We arrive to Quito.