Cuicocha

On Thursday, I finally got to hang out with Blady!! Along with his friend, Francisco, we went to Cuicocha. It was fun to visit again, since the last time I was there was in 2009 with Jason, Carla, and Cristina. It looks pretty much the same, but this time, it was sunny and hot.

Instead of taking a boat ride like before, we walked around the mountain for about 30-45 minutes. There is a trail that circles the lake, but it requires 4 hours of hiking. Blady joked we were going to do that, and I told him he'd have to call my mom and tell her I had died for his pleasure. That won me the argument. According to my Vivofit, I didn't walk very far, but climbing up and down a mountain (even on a trail) is hard work! It was actually kind of relaxing, even though I was working hard to keep up with the boys.

But it was absolutely worth it because the views were breathtaking!

At one point, this was a taller mountain peak, but when the volcano erupted, a left a crater that became this lake.

All along the path were interesting features to keep hikers entertained/exasperate the boys as I had to stop at each one. We encountered a sun calendar (that confirmed we're in August), moon calendar (that we had no idea how to read), ritual offering site (above), and ritual bathing site (below). Who knows what else lies on the rest of the path, but I'm not sure it's worth the remaining 3.5 hours and my impending death to find out. ;)

Mama Cotacachi, up close and personal

Taita Imbabura, looking impressive as always