The loop and the devil's nose

1. View on the Quilotoa Loop 2. Laguna Quilotoa 3. Saqsuili market 4. My new husband 5. The Devil's Nose train

From Cotopaxi we headed for Latacunga, gateway to the Quilotoa Loop - a string of highland villages clinging to impossibly steep cliffs where the infrequent buses screech past llamas at breakneck speed to a soundtrack of manic and relentless cumbia. Now when the Lonely Planet say somewhere is 'remote and untouched' but then feature it as one of the top places to visit I always smell trouble, but this time I was wrong - there were a few tourists kicking about but the people were still pleased to see them and the atmosphere was unblemished by their hiking boot-clad presence.

We checked into Mama Hilda's in the village of Chugchilan. Roaring stoves in every room, the elderly owners playing cards in the dining room through a cloud of smoke, home cooked food and humming birds dipping in and out of the flower-laden balconies. Paradise!

The next morning we set off for Laguna Quilotoa. We took a local boy to guide us through the myriad pathways down and back up the steep sides of the plunging valley. It was a really tough walk but at the end we were rewarded with the most incredible view of a perfect cone of azure blue within the volcano's collapsed crater. We packed our guide off on the return bus, bought a few souvenirs from the straggling market at the crater rim and headed back down again, constantly checking ourselves that we were following the right path. We trudged back through thunder and lashing rain along the slippery paths before finally reaching Mama Hilda's where we steamed ourselves in front of the stove sipping a very welcome hot chocolate after 7 hours of walking.

The next day we set off on horseback to visit the local cheese factory. Horses and cheese - what a perfect day. Our horses were uncharacteristically crazy for South American mounts and we galloped haphazardly up sandy roads with the promise of cheese at the end. The cheese wasn't bad so we bought a large hunk and set off again. Our guide managed to fall off his horse and it proceeded to gallop on without him so he ran on in front of us into the cloud forest until we finally found his horse waiting patiently at the lunch stop. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the forest before ambling back down the mountain for a relaxing afternoon swinging in the hammocks, nibbling cheese and watching the humming birds.

The next morning we were up and out at 2am for the only bus of the day around the loop to the famous Wednesday market at Saqsuili. It was worth the ridiculously early start and the freezing cold temperatures on the two hour bus ride. There were several different markets but the highlight for both of us was the animal market. It was pulsating with life - throngs of people in ponchos and felt hats bedecked with peacock feathers chatted and bargained over a cacophony of grunts and squeals. The locals didn't resent us wandering through the slippery mud in amongst the livestock and I spent a happy hour chatting to vendors about the price of llamas, piglets and sheep. It was all going well until the local horse trader spotted me. He called forth a crowd and announced that he was going to buy me to be his new wife, explaining that there was a slight problem as I was already married. Someone from the crowd shouted out 'everything is negotiable' and to much hilarity my new husband wrapped his arms around me. And where was Mike? Shrinking into the crowd whilst capturing the whole thing on camera like any good husband would.

From there we headed south again to Riobamba, hopping on point for the famous Devil's Nose train. Except the train wasn't actually running properly due to some severe landslides. In for a penny, in for a pound, we caught the bus down to a little village further south where we boarded a fake train to nowhere and went for an hour long trip with a carriage full of noisy Germans up and down the nose (a series of steep switchbacks), complete with photo stops and a Japanese trainspotter wearing the guard's hat and taking notes in his spotter's notepad. It was a bit surreal but the scenery was incredible and the sun shining.

From there, onwards to Cuenca, our final stop on the 'crouching rhino hidden llama grand tour'.