ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Tourism Promotion.
Cuicocha Lagoon.
First stamp in a set of 6, issued in 1953.
Face value: 5 Ecuadorian centavos.
Printed by Security Banknote Company.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 300,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 857.
- Michel No. 812.
- Scott No. 576.
- StampWorld No. 814.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 984.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 565.

Cuicocha (Kichwa language: Kuychi Kucha) is a 3 km (2 mi) wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes, in Imbabura Province, at an altitude of 3,068 m (10,066 ft) over sea level . The caldera was created by a massive eruption about 3100 years ago that generated about 5 km³ (6.54 billion cubic yards) of pyroclastic flow and covered the surrounding area in volcanic ash up to 20 cm (8 inches) deep. Activity continued until 650 CE. The lake, which is 200 m (656 ft) deep at its deepest point, is highly alkaline and contains little life. It has no known output. Lake Cuicocha contains four dacitic lava domes that form two steep forested islands: Yerovi and Teodoro Wolf, separated by the so-called “Channel of Dreams” (Spanish: Canal de los Sueños). Cuicocha forms the southern end of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.