Quilotoa

For a brief trip, a group of ten of us ventured to a small town called Quilotoa, which exists for the sole purpose of making the crater lake of the volcano a tourist destination. After an exhausting, frustrating series of events involving buses and transportation to the remote town, we made it to our hostel, which was adorable. There, among the clouds and cliffs, we decided to try cuy or guinea pig for dessert:

It was tough and really salty. Glad I tried it, but not gonna eat it again...

We woke up in the morning to clear, bitterly cold and windy skies, but decided to hike down to the lake. The local myth is that the inactive volcano now holds a bottomless lake, which once absorbed a runaway train back in the days (but there are no train tracks anywhere...?)

Really cold. Really windy. Really pretty.

So we hiked down to the lakes edge and then hiked back up, a little bit upset that the 6-hour loop hike was not at the base of the lake, but rather around the rim of the volcano.

So we hiked back up and started to hike the real Quilotoa loop, with the beautifully blue lake on one side and this on the other side of the ridge:

We stopped for a potluck lunch and a quick nap before turning around and heading back to the hostel:

Fruit, peanut butter, granola bars, oreos, what else could we need?

And after another 5 hours of transportation, we arrived back in Quito late last night where I promptly fell asleep in my warm bed. Despite all the headaches of the actual transportation, it was a perfect short trip and was totally worth it. If you're ever in Ecuador, Quilotoa is a MUST.