Otavalo Day 2 - Laguna de Cuicocha

Friday May 27

Today we woke to the sound of roosters crowing, dogs barking, and general busyness around the hostel. It is only happening like that because I am sleeping great. I thank God for that.

After some breakfast we headed down the hill to find the bus station and to play our hand at the 'getting there is half the fun ' game. We had a rough idea about where we were going and thought public transport would be a more interesting, and cheaper, way to travel then private cab. We wandered into the chaotic bus depot looking, I am sure, a little bewildered, wondering where we might buy some tickets. We did not find that, but we did have a few folks hawking rides to here and there.

Finally we spotted a bus with Cotacachi painted on it. Cotacachi was not exactly where we wanted to go, but it was close and could serve the purpose. So we got on and away the bus sped, and we thought "well, here we go... somewhere". When the bus commander came around to collect the dinero we had a chance to point to the city name that Patti had scribbled down and he replied with a "Si".

Laguna de Cuicocha is a beautiful crater lake formed in the remains of an exploded volcano. There is a rim trail that can be hiked offering a great workout and spectacular views. Not wanting to miss the views and ready to tire out the kids a little bit we opted for the four hour hike which did not disappoint. The rim was 10 mile loop with 2000 feet of gain with quite a bit of up and down. The kids did great on that hike even though it did get a little taxing.

We forgot to bring one of our 5 cans of bug spray. Oops. There were a couple shady spots where we had to do the skeeter dance. These are the first bites we have suffered on the trip; Tara 4, Riley 2, Patti 1, John 1. The bug count has been surprisingly low and we are grateful for that.

The only surprise on the hike was near the end where we dumped out on to a road. Patti had read that you should exercise some care on this trail as you could get robbed. So we left a bunch of the things we normally truck along at our place, like iPads ect. I usually bring that stuff with because I think it is safer on our backs then left in the room.

We back tracked a little bit were a few locals were picnicking and asked them if we took a wrong turn. We did not, and there was a 2 mile hike left down the road. Highway Bandits here we come.

As providence would have it, a cab appeared zooming down the road, which we promptly hailed. After a failed negotiation to get a dollar off the fare we jumped in. In the first half mile we saw several of the groups the had power hiked past us earlier in the day now desperately trying to get this cab to stop. Tara rightly pointed out that the further you get down the road the less likely it is that you will have and empty cab, and we were glad to be in this one. That is, until the dollars started to register in our driver's mind with all those desperate hikers up on the road, his speed increased accordingly.

This guy was flying. I wish I had my camera ready when we came up on three cows, just walking up the road, and he barely slowed at all as he passed between them. He was a nut. He was even passing other cabs, you know you are going fast at that point. What added to the excitement was the boulders that were strewn throughout the road. No, they were not there as a result of rolling down some eroded hillside, but placed there intentionally by road crews. I guess they are serious about protecting their pothole repairs.

We arrived back in Otavalo for a late lunch that we turned into our dinner as well. Both kids said they were craving pasta so we found them some of that while Patti had yet another omelette and a salad for me in this nice place tucked away in a quiet courtyard. Dinner consisted of powerbars and the odd snacks we have collected here and there along the way.

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