The lake of guinea pigs

When you're surrounded by so many amazing mountains (and volcanoes!) you can't help but throw on your hiking shoes and grab your camera every time the sun is shining and you don't have class. This Saturday our wanderings took us to Cuicocha, a huge crater lake located on the outskirts of Cotocachi about 30ish minutes away from Ibarra. (Cuicocha is a Quechua word which literally means "guinea pig lake." Apparently it got its name because of the large guinea pig population which used to live in the area.)

My older sister Fernanda suggested that we get an early start to avoid getting caught out in the blazing Ecuadorian sun in the middle of the day. So at 7:30 Saturday morning, bleary-eyed and caffeine-deprived, me, Fernanda, Annie, and Belen all met at the bus terminal to begin our little adventure. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and I had remembered to put on insect repellent. It was bound to be a good day.

We arrived in Cotocachi a little after 8 and after securing snacks and taking a bathroom break, we were ready to tackle Cuicocha. A short taxi drive later found us standing on a gravel road in the middle of farmland at the beginning of an narrow, unmarked dirt path. To the unsuspecting eye, it would've been quite easy to miss. I actually didn't see it myself until Fernanda (our unofficial guide) pointed it out to me.

The trail itself was easy enough to navigate in that we were walking around a lake and had little chance of getting lost. Also, since we had started on the left side of the lake instead of the right, our climb was much flatter and had fewer uphill hauls. However, the wind was strong and the sun was stronger and I could never quite decide if I was too hot or freezing. My jacket kept coming off and going back on as the sun moved in and out of the clouds.

The view of the lake was breathtaking as we were high enough above it for the entire duration of the hike to have a bird's eye view. I couldn't seem to stop taking pictures as the crest of every hill provided yet another spectacular vista.

And it wasn't just the lake stealing the show. There were several varieties of mountain flowers along the trail that caused me to lag behind more than once so I could snap a quick photo.

We met quite a few other hikers along the trail (almost all of them fellow gringos, though mainly from the UK) and stopped a few times to make good use of our snacks (coconut cookies...so addicting). By about noon we were nearly to the end of the trail.

The latter half of the hike proved to be a bit more challenging than the beginning. We were going downhill but between the gravel and the stairs we were either catching ourselves from slipping down the mountainside or praying that our knees would hold out just a bit longer.

We did, however, make it safely to the bottom of the trail and after a quick detour to the museum (solely to use their bathrooms of course) went looking for transportation back to Cotocachi. We had gotten the phone number of the taxi driver who had brought us so we could ring him to come pick us up, but Fernanda had a better idea. Why not hitch a ride in the back of some kind lady's flatbed and save ourselves the $5 we'd spend on a taxi? So, sure enough, we waved down a truck headed back to town and enjoyed our (illegal) 10 minute ride with the wind in our hair and an amazing view of the surrounding countryside. A perfectly fitting end to our lakeside jaunt!
Click the video below to see footage of our ride and some shots of Cuicocha.

Also, for those of you not on Facebook, click here to see the entire album of photos I took during our hike.

Chau!