We were up and out of Riobamba by just after 7:00 this morning. We made a quick stop on the edge of town for Ross to mark the location of a Puruhá site on his GPS (I'm thinking it's time to get myself one of those; a map nerd just isn't complete without one), then headed north.

It was a clear day as we hit the high point of the highway just outside Riobamba, making distant Cotopaxi visible as well as the closer volcanoes of Chimborazo, Tungarahua and Carihuayrazo. We cruised through Ambato and up to Latacunga where we made a quick stop. Despite my earlier disparagement of Latacunga as a viable place to visit, it's a rather pretty place. I would definitely spend a day or so there. It's not touristy, but if I want that, I'll go to Baños. If I want a pleasant, well maintained old city, Latacunga is on the list.

After Latacunga we turned off the main highway to make the ascent up to Quilotoa. Along the way we turned into a small place called Pujili. There we drove past a lovely colonial church and former Ecuadorian military dictator from the 1970s, Guillermo Rodriguez Lara. Jim waved at him and he waved back. I was under the impression that ousted military dictators tend to flee the country, not settle in small towns to wave at tourists from a white Mercedes SUV, but I guess I was mistaken.

We actually ended up, further olong our drive up into the mountains, at a little inn and former hacienda run by the nephew of Lara. He invited us in for coffee, informed us of his tour and hotel business, gave us some homemade cheese, told us about his family history and showed us around. It seems like a great place to spend a few nights; very comfortable and cozy.

We continued up the hill to Tigua, just above the former hacienda and home to the people the hacienda used to rule. The town, of an indigenous population, has a fair bit of bitterness towards the hacienda and would obviously prefer it if the Lara family would leave (as a side bit of intrigue, the father of our driver, Galo, used to be mayor of Riobamba until Lara came to power and replaced him with one of his cronies). Anyway, at Tigua, they have some beautiful and very colourful local art, a small piece of which I bought.

After that, we finally made it to Quilotoa and, before descending into the crater, had some very good quinoa and potato soup. This was oddly the first time since getting to the Andes that I've had quinoa. You'd think it would be more prevalent, but it's not. Ross says that it's a class. The people in the cities don't want to eat indigenous food. How ridiculous.

Anyway, we climbed down into the huge and beautiful crater. It's apparently still active and erupted last in 1797 (the same year the earthquake destroyed the original Riobamba that the stuff we were analyzing came from). I'm not even going to attempt to describe the crater further. I took pictures. I'll buy postcards. The climb down was pretty easy, despite occasional slipperiness due to sand on top of rocks. Coming up, the weather started to turn on us. It took a while and we had a bit of rain, but we made it out before the fog hit.

Next, we drove through what had become a downpour along a really winding, dirt road through the steep mountains for about an hour until we got to our evenings lodgings.

***

This place is cool. It's completely eco-friendly and has honour system snacks and beverages. All the guests eat together at 7:00 (soon). I really like this place. I'm currently writing this up in a loft bed in a room heated by a wood stove. The manager, a guy named Buffalo, is really helpful and the entire place just oozes friendliness.

***

Dinner was amazing. Ginger carrot soup, moussaka, rice and beans, and tzatziki. We could (and did) have big servings of seconds. Afterwards, everyone (and I mean everyone staying at the hotel, about 12-15 people) hung out in the common room and chatted. It{s a rather idyllic place with a community spirit and great views. They grow a lot of their own food and buy locally what they can't grow themselves, use self-composting toilets, and use rain/spring water for showers and general washing. It's brilliant. Why can't more places be like this?

Laura, I need to bring you here. It's called the Black Sheep Inn. It rocks.

***

I went up to my room last night and was stopped short by the stars. I must have stayed out for a good half an hour, if not more, just standing and staring at the twinkling sky.