How fleecy in Quilatoa?

Thanks, aguas --

Do you mean a fleece alone will be sufficient (i.e. no down vest required?).

Thanks for the tip on Laguna Cuicocha.

PS: we ate cui in Cuzco once -- didn't know they had their own lake.

An impossible question to answer. Because some people feel the cold much more than others. Quilotoa is a lot colder than most places in Ecuador.

I found Quilatoa more beautiful/dramatic than Cuicocha, which is also lovely. If you are going to Otavalo anyway, which most tourists do, you can probably make time for Cuicocha.

Are you going soon? For me in January (not this year), in the middle of the day on the crater it was fine in a t-shirt and jeans. But I took the bus at 4AM from Chugchilan, so I was wearing a few layers, plus gloves/hat. Not a down vest, though. At night in those towns it was very cold, long underwear and multiple blankets, and the cheaper hotels have shared bathrooms outside.

Yes I have been to both but I too found Quilitoa more dramatic and spectacular than Cuicocha which is lovely but not quite as spectacular.... Quitlitoa is cold so a couple of layers is necessary and if you get too hot or too cold you can take off or put on layers as needed. I enjoyed the market at Saqusili on Thursday more than Otavalo which can be very touristy and many vendors from Otavalo turn up at the Saquisili market anyway so can buy the same stuff if you want. The animal market early in the morning was great as all the indigenous come in to buy and sell livestock and there were less tourist there too. Saquisili is part of the Quilitoa Loop too.

Thanks for the ideas. Much appreciated.

I doubt you need the down vest. Fleece hat and gloves are more important. We were there in December and were fine in a base layer, a fleece (plus a lighter fleece sometimes) and the goretex jacket. For hiking around Chugchilan we didn't even use the goretex jacket. I live in Boston and it was not what we would call cold. Cotopaxi was colder; there we really needed the hat and gloves.

Thanks, Jean. I think that is about what we'll go with -- I found a weather site that gave temperatures in the Quilatoa region around 8° C at this time of year, which I would not really consider cold. It certainly confirms your recommendation, though. Thanks.