Cunugyacu & Quilotoa

On Sunday, Keely, me, and my host dad left Sangolquí at around 6 to go on an adventure! And it was probably the coolest adventure ever. We drove around 2 hours, mostly on a rocky and bumpy road, up the Illinizas, two mountains next to Cotopaxi. On the way, we saw a bunch of wild bunny rabbits that were really cute! We were looking for the Cunugyacu waterfall, known to be thermal. It turned out to be kind of cold because it was snowing at the top of the mountain, but it was still cool. The water is yellow because of the iron content that's in the soil in the mountain. But it doesn't really smell bad or anything; it's just yellow. The hike wasn't bad either. It was literally a 7 minute hike to the falls. From where we parked the car, we could hear the water falling (get it?? hahaha). We crossed a river using stones and logs for balance; I felt like a true nature girl! :D

After taking a bunch of pictures and admiring the beauty of the place, we left to go to Quilotoa, a lake that formed inside the crater of an inactive volcano. On the way, we stopped by Pujili for lunch - potato pancakes and fritada. Yummy!! This area rarely gets foreigners so Keely and I got some stares. We got to walk around the market, which is pretty much all indigenous people, and saw a lot of different things than normal. That does not make sense, but I don't know how to make it make sense. There was a guy that was selling these HUGE worms to eat.. Because it's supposed to be really good for pain and is a cure-all.

Then we left for Quilotoa; on the way, we passed by Tigua, a small pueblo known for its amazing art because of the famous artist Jorge Tiguaza (I think..?). We got to stop at his gallery and talk to him and look at his art. It was really cool. Then we finally got to Quilotoa. It was the most amazing place I've been in Ecuador. We got to go down to the lake, inside the crater; it's pretty deep and the ground is mostly sand so it was kind of difficult to go down quickly, but it was really fun sliding down. It took around an 45 minutes to an hour to get down the crater. When we got there, we took a lot of pictures and got to explore around the lake. There was an overnight house near the lake so we went to go look around. The rooms are really small because they're designed to be exactly how the indigenous people used them. There's only a bed and a window. Sweet and simple - all you really need.

Then we sat down at this camping table and ate bananas, dried aves (a type of bean), and pepino (a type of fruit that tastes like Korean pear - delicious!). After eating, we decided to go back up because it looked like it was going to rain. We got to climb up riding horses!! Or mules, to be exact. It was so cool because I've never been on a horse!!! Super chévere! It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would; my host dad said that my legs will hurt a lot. But my horse would NOT listen to me. He was really short-tempered and competitive, apparently, because he really wanted to be ahead of the other two horses (my host dad's and Keely's). My host dad wanted to go ahead of us because he wanted to take pictures, but his horse would not move. And my horse would RUN in front. My host dad eventually went ahead, but while we were stopped in this really tight crevice, my horse decided to run past my host dad. Awesome idea. My leg got trapped in between my host dad and his horse and my horse. It was a great experience. Then another time, when we were almost at the top, my horse decided to stop. And so naturally, the other horses stopped behind him. And then my horse lifted his hind legs and tried to kick the horse behind him. And I almost fell off!! But that was really cool LOL.

When we finally got to the top, I realized I had lost my lens cap :( Probably when my horse was acting crazy. Sad.. But at least it wasn't my camera. And I think I'm allergic to big animals because my throat started getting itchy again and it was getting kind of hard for me to breathe, and I kept coughing. The area between my chest and my throat hurt a lot, like there was something pressing against it and pressing into my body. Ouch. But it got better after I drank a lot of water and slept a little bit in the car. On our way home, we stopped by La Avelina, a famous restaurant known for their amazing chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream. It was so good.. Probably the best simple vanilla ice cream I've ever had. We got home around 7:30 because of traffic, and when we finally arrived, I was so exhausted that I couldn't do anything. Great day, great day. :)