TWO DAY TRIP
Trekking to Cotopaxi National Park & Quilotoa Volcano Crater Lake

DAY 1 :
A few minutes after leaving Quito at 6:00 am, we make a short stop on the mountainside to take in a bird's-eye view of Quito. We then take the Panamericana highway south along the famous AVENIDA DE LOS VOLCANES (Avenue of the Volcanoes). This route, which travels through the mountain ranges of the Ecuadorian sierra, offers the opportunity to see beautiful rural landscapes, including corn, bean and potato farms, which produce the staples of the local diet.

We then continue eastbound along a countryside road where we begin our ascent by car into the Cotopaxi National Park (3800 m). With the change in altitude, we can observe the transition to a colder climate, smaller highland vegetation, and different wildlife: wild horses, white-tailed deer and Andean foxes.

Also, as the last major eruption of VOLCAN COTOPAXI took place in 1877, we can follow the lava tunnels and debris along the side of the volcano and throughout the park, which results in a lunar landscape.

We continue our journey to an altitude of 4500 m, where we will leave the vehicle and proceed on foot to climb the awe-inspiring snow-capped Cotopaxi (5897 m), one of the world's highest volcanoes. It is a 45 minute walk to the Refuge (4800 m) and a further 15 minutes to reach the glacier, for stunning views of the Park.

After our descent from the refuge and the glacier, our hike continues through the paramo highland vegetation towards LAGUNA LIMPIOPUNGO, a small picturesque lake, where we will stop for a picnic lunch.

There is an optional 30 minute walk around the lake, which is a good place to spot some of the Park's abundant birdlife.

After passing by Pujili another traditional Indian pueblo, we continue to the highlands of Paramo, reaching up to 3800 m with an amazing and multicolour landscape, where you will see the "choza" mud huts typical of the indigenous villages and farms of the region.

The road winds through a patchwork of farm fields where potatoes, onions, beans and corn are grown. You will also often see llamas along this road.

In the evening, we have a typical dinner in the nice small village of CHUGCHILAN, where we also are going to spend the night.

DAY 2 :
On Sunday, we set off after breakfast to visit the impressive QUILOTOA CRATER, an extinct volcano crater which holdsa vivid green lake. The impressive QUILOTOA CRATER has a diameter of 2 km and a depth of 500 m from the crater's rim!

From here there are two options:

We then drive to the small town of PUJILI to visit its Sunday market. Later in the afternoon we will return to Quito and should be back by 6pm.