It has been a few days since I last blogged, and I have a lot to fill you guys in on. Wednesday, we woke up and headed to Mama Cotacachi. This is the name the locals call the volcano we climbed. Once we got up there, and were on the lake, it was incomprehensible. I have never seen a view like it in my entire life. The lake was filled in from rainwater over millions of years, in the crater caused from the volcano being active. We took a boat ride and admired how stunning the nature that surrounded us was. The water looked fake it was so blue. The mountain skyline looked like a painting. After the boat ride, we climbed up the ridge and took some drone footage and pictures. After our hike, we ate lunch and left to go to a waterfall. There was a playground/park that we hit on the way to the waterfall, which was fun, but the waterfall itself was the true magic of that adventure. The mist felt so good on your face as the sun beamed down on us. It was a huge fall. Then we headed to the condor park. We saw many birds, including the biggest eagle in the world, as well as the national bird, the condor. Towards the end of the park trip, we saw a view that topped the one before and hung out there talking for a bit. We got back to the hotel and had a break before dinner and had an appetizer of the Ecuadorian traditional dish guinea pig. We headed down into Otavalo for our last dinner at a local restaurant and then came back for bed before our long travels the next day.
On Thursday, we woke up early and headed out. It was sad saying goodbye to the hotel, because the family was so nice, and the place was really cool. We took a drone shot of everyone from the terrace and then went on our way. We stopped at the Equator and got a tour explaining historical findings about space and the Equator and sharing that the mountain we saw in the back was the highest point in the world that is on the Equator (Cayambe). We also walked through their agave garden. Following this, we dropped off Gabby and said our goodbyes. Everyone was sad she had to leave us. Then, we ascended into the Andes Mountains, where we reached 13,300+ feet of elevation. This was another great view. Once we finished up here, we headed down into the hot springs, where there were all different levels of heat from freezing to burning hot. I went between the two extents several times, and it was extremely calming and therapeutic. There was a man from New York who was traveling who had a conversation with us about his travel experience as well. It feels rare finding people who speak English other than our tour guides and partners, which makes it exciting to hear their stories when we do. There have been several people I met who have moved down here to retire. Anyways, after the hot springs we had lunch, and headed to the cloud forest. The cloud forest was another extremely unique experience, where you couldn’t see anything but clouds below. It was raining heavy and was a really fun hike. We played music for the rest of our drive to the lodge, and once we finally got there it was a different environment that surrounded us. It was humid and much hotter even though it was nighttime, and everything around us was so lush, just like the cloud forest. We settled in and took a walk around with Eli admiring different plants and bugs as she explained them to us. We also listened to the new Drake album before bed outside of our lodge, which was quite a fun and unique listening experience.
We woke up today and ate breakfast and then headed over to pottery making. Our instructor drove around two hours to come to our lodge to help, and I am very glad she did because she is the sole reason any of our bowls looked good. This was a very calming start to the day. After this, we walked down to the beach and rocky area that was right off of the Rio Napo River and hung out for a little while before lunch. All of our meals at the lodge are home cooked by the family who owns it, and they are delicious. After lunch, we got changed and headed to the cacao farm, where we got to eat more of the delicious fruit surrounding the seeds inside. Once we got back, we took a dip in the pool, which was opening for the first time today. Then we had some chill time to blog and hang out before dinner at 7:00. Today was a much needed relax day after our travels and excitement rushing around for the past few days.