On Saturday morning, we drove to Laguna Cuicocha, a crater lake that’s 2 hours from Quito. Monica was set on doing the 8 mi, 2,200 ft hike around the lake. I wasn’t convinced that I’d be able to do it because 1) I’ve never hiked 8 mi, 2) I’ve never hiked 2,200 ft, especially not when my starting point is at 10,600 ft, 3) I was exhausted, and 4) my stomach was not happy with the altitude and had been struggling since Cuenca. Monica kept telling me that I’d be fine. I didn’t believe her, but I was willing to hike as long as I was able to.

When we were almost at the lake, Google Maps had us turn onto a sketchy dirt road that was only wide enough for one car. We made it almost to the end of the road when it got steep and bumpy and our tires started spinning. We weren’t sure what was on the other side of the steep part, so we decided to back the car all the way back to the main road. When we zoomed out on the map, we saw that if we followed the main road, it would loop us back to where we had to go pretty quickly. By trying to get us to take a shortcut, Google Maps had added time to our drive. We couldn’t believe that it would direct us onto a sketchy dirt road when there was a perfectly paved route already!

We made it to the lake in one piece, not thanks to Google Maps. The lake is beautiful and someday, I’d like to come back and do the whole hike. That’s right, as expected, I wasn’t able to do the whole hike. Not only was the lake beautiful, but the mountains and plains surrounding it were too. The first part of the trail is the steepest. I ended up hiking up about 1 mi and then I really had to go to the bathroom. Monica tried to convince me to go in a bush, but as I mentioned before, my stomach wasn’t happy, and it wasn’t the kind of bathroom stop you can do in a bush. So I hiked back down and Monica continued a little farther before turning back and meeting me back at the trailhead. It turns out that my stomach yelled at me at the right time. By the time I got back to the trailhead, I was exhausted and feeling my knees, so it was good that I turned back when I did.

On our way back to Quito, we stopped at Otavalo, a town that has the largest indigenous open-air market in South America. (Yes, Google Maps tried to make us take the sketchy dirt road on the way back and yes, we chose to ignore it this time. We knew better.) The market in Otavalo is very overwhelming because there are so many stalls and people and the stalls aren’t always placed in a straight line, so you’re constantly weaving in different directions and it’s hard to know what parts of the market you’ve already seen. You can get good quality, handmade things pretty cheap. Monica and I ended up getting matching bracelets and woven purses and cute overalls for the babies in our lives.

Then we drove back to Quito, watched some Little House on the Prairie, and got ready for another day of adventures on Sunday.