A Chugchilan Day Hike with Severe Altitude Sickness

Chugchilan, Ecuador
By Marisa Umsawasdi

Gringos packed in the bed of a truck

A group of people at dinner had decided that they wanted to do the 5 hour Laguna Quilotoa to Chugchilan hike. I heard that it is notably one of the best day hikes in Ecuador. Being on my own, and only with a few days in Chugchilan, I jumped at the opportunity to tag along, even though I was having really bad altitude problems. Really, I should know better than that.

In the middle of the night, I had a fever and chills, couldn't sleep well, and am still suffering from really bad altitude problems. I got up early, met the group at 9 a.m. I debated whether I was doing the right thing, but I was like, heck, I may never get this opportunity again. There were 10 of us: The family from Montreal - Patrick and Marie, the parents, and Louis, Ophelie, and Emilie, the college age kids; Jen and Tony - a couple from San Francisco working their way south, then relocating to Australia; and Serge and Dominique, the French Canadian couple.

We all piled into the bed of a small pick up truck, and were packed in. It was actually pretty funny. Nine gringos and a morena in a small truck bed.

We went a few miles, all jam packed in the bed. Then the truck dropped us off at another truck - we split off into 2 groups of 5. We let the family from Montreal have the small pickup truck, since there were 5 of them. The rest of us loaded on up in a truck that looks like it hauls things - wooden back and sides. We all stood up during the ride, and it was one hell of a bumpy and dusty ride down dirt roads.

Our Lunch View

First of all, the driver had trouble starting the truck. It took about 3 times for him to get it going. He would brake really hard at times, so we had to hang on really well. There was plenty of leg shifting and bracing during the ride. And did I say that we were all standing up the entire ride to Laguna Quilotoa? He was a crazy driver! Tony could not look over the edge when we went on the roads with the steep drops, because it made him a bit scared. It was a bit of a thrill ride that way - a rickety old truck, inches from the edge of dirt road cliffs, with drops in the hundreds of meters. The trip to Quilotoa was beautiful. We were so high in the lush, fertile green Andes, climbing higher as we approached Quilotoa. Around every turn was new amazing Andean scenary, with valleys and
streams as well. When the truck dropped us off, we were all covered in tan dust from head to toe.

After quite a journey, we arrived at Laguna Quilotoa. We had walked up to the overlook area. That little hike was a killer for me, I already felt so winded after walking only a few hundred meters. We took a few pics. Then I decided, well, I'd better go use the bathroom before heading on this crazy hike! So I walked down to the public bathroom, which was literally a wooden shack with a wooden floor with a square cut out. I had to hold my nose tightly, and try to tune it all out - the piece of excrement on the floor nearby, the smells, the flies.

I walked back to the lookover point, and yes, once again, was exhuasted. I had no idea what I was in for, but I knew that I had to get my butt in shape to do the Inca Trail hike. So this was a "trainer" for me.

Laguna Quilotoa is so beautiful. It is a crater lake that was a dark emerald color when we saw it. Sometimes, the lake changes color depending on the sun and clouds. At the rim, which was at about 12,500 ft in altitude, it was extremely windy and freezing cold. The knit hat that I bought in Otavalo instantly came out of my pack. Oh, it was cold!

With our hiking instructions and map from the Black Sheep Inn, we proceeded to hike around the rim. Iain, the manager of the Black Sheep Inn, had said that they had worked on marking the trail but some signs had mysteriously disappeared here and there. Serge was the leader in finding this illustrious trail back to Chugchilan. We hiked about a quarter of the way around the rim. Great views all around. At one section, opposite the Laguna was a valley. You could hear the wind screaming through it. We encountered a local young boy, hiking along the compacted sandy trail around the rim as well. He hiked in front of us, with a stick in hand. Then he climbed up the side of the hill to tend to a flock of sheep with an older man, possibly his father, looking over him. As we hiked on, the colors of the Laguna lightened up a bit.

The trail was marked a bit, with a few signs with simple arrows. It lead us to ascend higher on small footpaths, and descend as well. Opposite the Laguna on the trail was always fantastic mountain scenary. I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful it was.

Valley View

We crossed a steep sandy area, then had to veer off the rim trail and onto the trail that headed back to Chugchilan. We ran down the dune-like formation, and came to a panting stop at the bottom of it. We took notice of blue flowers in a field. Others on the trip had never seen anything like it. To me, it was a reminder of home. These flowers looked like a field Texas bluebonnets that flower in the late Spring time. I never thought I would see the similar flowers in the high Andes. I believe in Ecuador, the flowers are called "ashpa chocho", which is from the Lupine family, same as the bluebonnet. Next to the field of chochos, we decided to take a lunch break. I don't think we could have had a better view - a sloping field of vibrant blue chochos, leading to lower ground, many shades of green fields and pastures all around on softly eroded hills, high green mountains enshrouded in clouds in the background.

We continued on, descending in altitude a bit. We passed by small houses along the way, a tiny town with a restaurant, and quite a few children asking us for regalos. One child hiked behind us, quite a ways away from her family. I was wondering when she would quit following us. We hiked on, and then came to a cliff edge, where below was far valley - it looked like a quit patchwork of fields. Four children followed us to the edge. We took a breather there, because it was a far descent, and a far way still to Chugchilan.

There was a small narrow bridge that we had to cross - no handrails, of course. If you look at the bridge, you can see that below it is a narrow deep canyon, between two huge rocks. Then we hiked through a tight trail, if you call that, where rock cliffs surrounded you on both sides. The trail wound down like that for quite a bit. I trailed behind everyone else. Patrick and Marie, the parents of the French Canadian family, wouldn't let me be last, so they tagged along, or stopped when I needed to. I thought it was very sweet of them to look out for me like that. But whenever I could, I tried to at least be in front of them! I did get to a point, where I lost the entire group. There were no signs of where to go, and there was a T in the pathway. So I asked a local guy which way to go, and he pointed me in the right direction.

I met up with the rest of the group at a point, overlooking the Rio Toachi canyon, which is at about 8,500 ft in altitude (we'd descended from about 12,500 ft!). In my exhausted mind, I though, we have to cross that? I had already felt like keeling over and dying. But when I saw that canyon, going down is not the bad part, but the fact that we had to go back up it, oh man. I wanted to die. My head was pounding with every step I took already. I just didn't know how much more I could take, or how much farther the Inn was.

So we took a breather, before descending down to the Rio Toachi. It was a pretty steep descent. Then we crossed the river - it was narrow and shallow. For the most part, we jumped from stone to stone, getting a little wet, to cross it. I looked up at the path to the top, took a deep breath, and forced myself to ascend. It was an extremely steep, somewhat muddy pathway. If I leaned back, I felt like I would have fallen quite a bit. I trucked on, finally made it to the top of the canyon, took another breather.

And I thought, okay, the worst must be over now. Smooth sailing from now on, right? Well, little did I know that we had to ascend much higher, since the Black Sheep is at 10,000 ft. In the latter half of the hike, I did most of it by myself. Everyone else was really fast - about an hour ahead of me, and Patrick and Marie were about 30 minutes behind me. I had very akward moments in my solitary hike, thinking...how dangerous is this? Am I going to make it? Really, am I going to make it? I felt like collapsing at any moment. There was nobody in sight. Not even a road nearby. Not that a road would help, as I was in very rural Ecuador. My head kept on pounding, I started to get dizzy, but I just kept on pushing myself to go on. I tried to keep my mind occupied. Enjoy the scenary. But I felt slightly panicked. I felt very much alone.

Laguna Quilotoa from the Rim

I finally made it to the main dirt road. I thought, it must not be very far now. I got a second wind, and started to hike faster. I started to see civilization - the town of Chugchilan. I was extremely ecstatic. If I've made it this far, I'm going to make it back. I passed through town, but had to go a bit further to the entrance of the Black Sheep Inn. When I finally got there, I threw off my pack, caught my breath, rested, and looked at that damn hike up to the Inn. I just took it slowly, one step at a time. At last, I made it!!!

I made my way to the common area, and hung around there for a long time, and drank lots and lots of coca tea. I did not want to get up at all. My whole body was jello. I finally got off my butt, put my pack up in the dorm. I then all of a sudden felt really ill and nauseated. I threw up, threw up, and threw up more - all liquid. I felt a lot better after throwing up, but felt so weak. I could only eat a little bit of dinner that night. And I had a headache from hell.