116 Days Old (Quilatoa)

Quilatoa

So Ryan and I spent way too much time and money getting out to the middle of nowhere ... taxi to bus station that was too full to long expensive taxi ride to bus to taxi truck down dirt roads ... anywho, so we made sure to befriend some gringos at the inn (everyone lives in Quito) and bum a ride back ... they said sure, but we were going to have to go to the super cool crater lake first ... torture ... so while Lauren, Ashley, and our Quito friends drove back in a car full of screaming babies ... ryan and I had a nice lake hike, some Ecua-lunch ... and still beat them home (they spent about two hours at some cool restaurant and we zoomed past them on the freeway during the 2nd hour)

Here is Ryan about Quilatoa lake ... a huge volcanic crater filled with semi-warm fresh water ...

... and here's the papa

BROTHERS!!

So of course we hiked down a bajillion vertical feet to the lake ... which I was like, no, I'm good ... I'll just chill up here at the mirador (lookout point) and Ryan was like ok ... but i am going to go touch the water ... and so I had to go ... it was a really cool valley, but the hike up was murder (still at 14,000ft altitude and the hike back was basically vertical for an hour)

... and a random pretty flower ...

... and here are some panoramic shots ... the first from the top of the crater ...


... and the second from the bottom ... just to prove i climbed down that torturous path and back up ... haha


... and some pictures from our friends pat and carolyn ...
Sisters looking good on the mountain top ...

... and see, they climbed down too ... about twenty feet =)