Ecuador day 3: killin' it at Quilotoa

We rose early today, packed up, and breakfasted at the hotel before boarding the bus to Quitumbe, Ecuador's largest bus station (you can get a bus from there to any major city in the country); we took a bus from there to the town of Latacunga and then another one to Quilotoa.

The countryside of Ecuador. Darn stinkin' beautiful.

We stepped off in the town of Quilotoa and walked up to our hotel for the night. Turns out it's across the street from the trailhead to go down to the lake, which was pretty neat. We dropped off our stuff, had some lunch (I wanted to try the traditional roasted guinea pig but they didn't have any; don't tell Aunt Susan), and headed out to see Quilotoa proper. It is absolutely gorgeous.

Quilotoa in the sun. Beautiful green depths.

We then hiked down to the lakeside; it's pretty steep, to the point that I was looking forward to a bit of uphill. That was silly of me.

It started to rain when we reached the bottom, so we waited for it to lighten up and then headed back up the slope. It was slow going. 4000m and ridiculously steep trails do not lend themselves to an easy jaunt back up to the top. We took a lot of photo breaks. Which was actually really nice, because on the way down we were just focusing on the ground ahead of us to keep from falling.

We stopped for plants!

And other plants!

And to pose!

And to look at the ridiculously gorgeous mountains!

It's weird, these mountains are 4000 meters tall but they're completely green and snow-free. Guaranda, where Patrice lives, is over 4000m and they get snow like Corvallis does. Equators, man!

We finally reached the top and collapsed for a couple of hours. We went out to the courtyard sunroom and sat in hammocks to read, nap, and recover. 

Pretty courtyard. This place is really cute.

But then the cold set in. I had fallen asleep and woke up to a rapidly dimming sky, cold hands and feet, and no sign of Patrice. She had taken the key and run back to the room to shiver under three blankets and a comforter. I immediately followed suit and we waited in this state for dinner to be ready. When it was, we practically ran to the dining room. The food was really good! Especially this drink they brought out at the end. It's called canelazo, and it's one of the most delicious beverages I've ever had. It's supposedly made with sugar cane alcohol, hot cinnamon water, and passion fruit (or other similar fruit). I don't think it had any alcohol in it, though, since I didn't taste any or feel its effects. Anyway, I'm definitely going to try to recreate it when I get back, it's glorious.