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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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Steve and I had decided to go to see the Quilotoa Crater lake, which would be about a 5 hour bus trip from Ambato, once we finally arrived there. The Quilotoa lake is something that I had read about when I first starting researching this South America trip and it was really my only MUST for the entire trip. It is a lake that has sprung up (literally) in the crater of a collapsed volcano. The water comes from deep inside the earth's core, so there are no fish or anything living in it, but it is potable (for animals, not humans!) and very very cold.
We ended up in Quilotoa at about 9pm or so on Saturday night and it was FREEZING. Quilotoa is about 15,000 feet up, so I think this accounts for most of the cold. I am talking like maybe actually 30 degrees. We were so far away from any major urban center, there weren't even really hotels... so we ended up staying with an indigenous family in Quilotoa. I would like to say that this was a wonderful experience of warmth and cultural sharing and that it gave me an invaluable inside look into a grand tradition of the Kichwa people, but honestly, the experience staying there was pretty awful. They seemed like nice people, but it was, by far, the scariest and coldest and dirtiest place I have ever stayed in my whole life. I was so happy to wake up in the morning so that it was all over.
But that being said, when I first glimpsed the crater lake in the morning and took in the unbelievable beauty of this natural phenomenon, it made any hardship getting there completely and totally worth it. I have no words to describe the beauty of the emerald green waters of this immense crater lake (we estimated that it was over a mile across). Just incredible. Steve and I hiked down to the bottom (it took about an hour), went kayaking in the lake (Erin, I would have made you proud!!) and then attempted to hike back up. Of course, with the altitude this was impossible for me since I'd been back at sealevel for like a week, so we opted to take some donkeys up instead. I felt bad about this for a number of reasons, the main one being that there were actually people leading the horses on foot, making me feel that much lazier and like it kind of defeated the purpose, but whatever! It was only $5, and I thought a great investment - and a great donation to the community.
After taking its beauty in from the top again for a while, we headed out of town and hopped a bus to Quito. I would be meeting Mom and George there on Monday morning!
previous travel blog entry
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