The imposing Andes mountains, which run across the country, are known as the Avenida de los Volcanes.<\/strong> The main volcanoes in the northern part of the Avenida include the Volc\u00e1n Cayambe of 5790m, the Cotacachi of 4939m and the Imbabura of 4609m. The latter is also called Taita Imbabura (Papa Imbabura) because of the spiritual significance of the volcano as the sacred protector of the region. And the main volcanoes in the central part are the snowy Andean Cotopaxi<\/strong> of 5897m and the Chimborazo<\/strong> which at 6267m is the highest point in Ecuador.<\/p>\n Cotopaxi National Park<\/strong> is located just south of Quito. In the heart of this park is the 5897m high snowy volcano Cotopaxi after which the park is named. It includes the Limpio Pungo plateau, a fine example of a P\u00e1ramo, as in Ecuador a plateau is called. You can see wild horses, llamas, wild bulls, sometimes a condor and if you are very lucky a cougar!<\/p>\n Experience the real life of the high Andes in the Quilotoa<\/strong> region. West of the immense Cotopaxi<\/strong> volcano you will find the most picturesque landscapes. There are impressive canyons, scenic mountain peaks and the unsurpassed azure Quilotoa crater lake. The nature is overwhelming, varied and beautiful to walk in. Small villages like Zumbahua,<\/strong> Pujilli<\/strong> and Saquisili<\/strong> are known for their authentic, vibrant weekly markets where Indians in brightly colored ponchos sell their wares. Along the way, you’ll come across packed llamas and pass beautifully painted buses with sheep on top or pick-ups laden with up to twenty men. It is a unique experience to travel in this area and enjoy the special scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Cotopaxi volcano is one of the most famous volcanoes on the Avenida de los Volcanes, the avenue of volcanoes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":21590,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"country":[252],"highlight_category":[602],"continent_category":[224],"class_list":["post-33618","highlights","type-highlights","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","country-ecuador-and-galapagos","highlight_category-gebied-en","continent_category-latin-america"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/33618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/highlights"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlights\/33618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=33618"},{"taxonomy":"highlight_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/highlight_category?post=33618"},{"taxonomy":"continent_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.untamedtravelling.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/continent_category?post=33618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cotopaxi National Park<\/h4>\n
Quilotoa region<\/h4>\n