We started day 4 with a long bus ride into the hills to a volcano lake and a boat ride with probably the greatest scenery I have ever witnessed in my life. The beauty of the mountains and volcanos was really something and we continued by visiting this awesome waterfall. At the waterfall there were more fruit vendors which was right up my ally and I tried some dried passion fruit, fresh passion fruit, golden berries, and a granadilla. However I would later regret this as I got some very bad virus or food poisoning that definitely came from the fruit I had which would make the next few days brutal. We then head off to the condor park and I saw some of the most beautiful and large birds I have ever seen and the views from up there were also amazing. We finished our day in this nice authentic Ecuadorian dinner spot with nobody else in it. It took a very long time to get our food which seems to be a common theme on this trip but everything tasted great so it made it worth it.
Day 5 started with a terrible wake up from my sickness but it was our last day in Otavalo and we had to hop on the bus for our long day of travel. Our first stop was at the Equator which was awesome because how many times in your life do you get to stand directly in the middle of the world. We then headed to the hot springs and we all kept switching between the hot tubs and the cold tubs which were both extremely hot and extremely cold. After that it was pretty much a windy trek through the Amazon rainforest with a lot of rain, on top of that our bus driver Eduardo was moving with a lot of urgency, sometimes a little too much especially when cutting off cars on wet windy roads but I trust him with my life. We also stopped at the cloud forest which was cool but I forgot to pack my rain coat and had the classic crocs and socks combo on so I got completely soaked which made the rest of the ride not the best. We then arrived to the lodge in the middle of the jungle and it was very humid but just so cool to be in the rainforest. I went to bed the second we arrived though due to my sickness but I needed the rest too after the long day of travel.
