Today, we started out eating breakfast at 7:30 so that we could meet our special guest for the day in our hotel lobby at eight. Our special guest is a geologist as well as a professor in Ecuador. He wrote many books, multiple of which are about volcanic activity. We had a three hour ride to Quilotoa, which was partially spent by our guest educating us about the area around us and about the area we would have been arriving to soon. During the bus ride, the geologist talked about how many people did not realize
We stopped along the way at Canon del Rio Toachi and it was explained that there was evidence of volcanic destruction based on the shape and structure of the terrain. We later hiked down Quilotoa until we got to the bottom. We took many pictures and then took a horse back up the trail. It was very steep, slippery, and rocky so riding the horse was a little nerve wracking. The boy who was leading Moira and I’s horses was only fourteen and had told me that he was doing this because his family needed the money. Before this point, I do not think I fully understood just the grand amount of impact that tourism has on the country. The young boy was doing a lot of manual labor so that way he could get some fast cash at a tourist hotspot in order to contribute to his family. Where I am from, our economy is heavily reliant on tourists in the summer, but never to that extent. It makes me think about the benefits and detriments of tourism as well as ecotourism in this country. After our three hour ride back, we had a presentation at our hotel by our special guest.
We stopped along the way at Canon del Rio Toachi and it was explained that there was evidence of volcanic destruction based on the shape and structure of the terrain. We later hiked down Quilotoa until we got to the bottom. We took many pictures and then took a horse back up the trail. It was very steep, slippery, and rocky so riding the horse was a little nerve wracking. The boy who was leading Moira and I’s horses was only fourteen and had told me that he was doing this because his family needed the money. Before this point, I do not think I fully understood just the grand amount of impact that tourism has on the country. The young boy was doing a lot of manual labor so that way he could get some fast cash at a tourist hotspot in order to contribute to his family. Where I am from, our economy is heavily reliant on tourists in the summer, but never to that extent. It makes me think about the benefits and detriments of tourism as well as ecotourism in this country. After our three hour ride back, we had a presentation at our hotel by our special guest.
Expansion of knowledge
The Toachi River Canyon
Since we travelled to the Toachi river canyon, I decided to research more about this landform. This canyon was formed from the pyroclastic flows that came from an eruption of Quilotoa. The bottom of the canyon was noted to be made out of rock bombs that came from different eruptions of active volcanoes. The canyon can go about 100 meters deep. The biodiversity in this canyon is on par with the biodiversity levels of Ecuador. Further along the canyon can be found Quilotoa and its lagoon.
Quilotoa
Quilotoa is an active volcano and it is considered a caldera. In this caldera, it has Quilotoa Lake. Quilotoa is recorded to have last erupted in 1280. The height of the caldera is approximately 4,000 meters. The name of the caldera originates from one of the languages of the indigenous communities that is local to it. It is noted that the trail to the lake in the middle of the caldera suffers from erosion and can only be accessible to people with a local guide.
Works cited
Ugc. (2016, July 15). Ecuador's Brilliant Turquoise Lake. Retrieved from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/laguna-quilotoa
Visiting the Stunning Toachi Canyon in Ecuador. (2020, February 12). Retrieved from https://www.ecuadorhop.com/toachi-canyon/
Visiting the Stunning Toachi Canyon in Ecuador. (2020, February 12). Retrieved from https://www.ecuadorhop.com/toachi-canyon/