After we packed all our stuff, we piled onto our cute bus and headed to el Parque Nacional Cotopaxi (Cotopaxi National Park). Along the way we passed through the town of Salcedo, which is known for its ice cream. Talk about my kind of town! So naturally we made a pit stop and got some of the delicious stuff.


¡Yo grito, tú gritas, todos de nosotros gritamso por el helado!
I guess "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" doesn't quite translate

We finally came into el Parque Nacional Cotopaxi which was surprisingly flat, minus the large volcano of Cotopaxi. We managed to get lost in the moon-like park, but eventually found our way to a lodge in Tambopaxi, and got to eat a delicious almuerzo.

Since we were behind schedule, we didn’t have time to walk around so we rolled our very full selves onto the bus and began what we expected to be a 2 hour trip to the town of Chugchillan.

Well, thanks to very windy and steep mountain roads, some confusing directions, and LOTS of fog (I have no idea how our bus driver knew where to drive next. I guess there’s a reason that he was the driver and I was just the passenger who held onto my seat for dear life), we arrived at our destination five hours later.
Once again we claimed beds in a hostal, this one named Mama Hilda. I think I even got to see Mama Hilda! But I’m not sure. Anyway, we ate a very late dinner after 10 pm and then crashed into bed.


Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hiking we go

The next morning we woke up around 8 for a quick breakfast and then prepared for a hike to la laguna Quilotoa (Quilotoa Lagoon), following the Quilotoa loop. We had one guide and 12 Americans and lots of water and apples. I don’t even know how to describe the hike other than it was absolutely incredible.

The hike started by going through the small pueblo of Chugchillan where there were lots of people out. It then continued into some trees with a steep downhill for about half an hour. We passed by lots of farms and people working.

After our downhill honeymoon, we began what would just be the start of lots and lots of uphill. Still the scenery was absolutely gorgeous with tons of mountains, green trees, and valleys. I took pictures, but they just don’t do the scene justice. It’s at times like those that I remember how truly awesome and creative God is.



Check out that scenery!

So we continued up up up. Sometimes we would walk on relatively flat ground, but it turned into uphill again (which I guess makes sense considering we were climbing a mountain.) We passed through the town of Guayama, which was so quiet and empty I thought it might be a ghost town. But our guide said a lot of people were at the market in Chugchillan.

We passed lots of crops fields planted into the side of the mountain which were so vertical I expected some of the plants to succumb to gravity and pop out at any minute. I was amazed that people could sow, care for, and harvest these fields by hand when I was sucking wind just walking.



Hmmmm...beach of the Andes?

Finally we came to an area that was covered in sand, which was quite strange for being on a mountain in the Andes. We continued our way and came to the rim of a huge crater hole and looked down to see the giant Laguna Quilotoa. Many people say that this is the most gorgeous lake in Ecuador and I can see why. Again, pictures don’t do it justice, but I tried.


la Laguna Quilotoa. Enough said.

Still, just because we could see the lake didn’t mean we had reached our destination. We continued hiking, though and eventually came to the village of Quilotoa where our bus, Maria, Erika, and of course our bus driver were waiting for us.