We don’t continue our journey at the Pailón del Diablo towards Amazonia, but we turn around and go back to the Andes to go north there. Because there are still spectacular volcanoes to see. We follow the gorge, along the bottom of which the Rio Cutuchi flows and which is called Valle Hermoso – the “beautiful valley”.

This way we avoid the big city of Amboto and instead we drive peacefully through nature until we reach the city of Latacunga.

Day 7 without a Breakdown

We drive through the green hills and have several mountains and volcanoes around us. Nevertheless, you don’t get the feeling of wilderness that you get from the volcanic landscapes in Iceland, for example. The landscape is not barren. Although volcanic eruptions are common here, it is green. The burnt ground quickly grows over again.

And human living space is growing even faster. I’m shocked at how densely populated Ecuador is. We hardly get through any area without seeing several villages or small towns near or far. The next town for us is now Latacunga, at the foot of Cotopaxi, which has just become active again.