Today has felt incredibly long; but not in a bad way at all. I think part of this may be due to the jet lag that still hovers over me like the dark spirits, but also from simply the pure amount of different things we did today. Today we got to venture out of the big city and into the countryside. We took a tour starting at 7am with two German girls and our tourguide - Pedro. Thankfully their English was sublime and there wasn't too much awkward pointing and gesturing. This was unfortunately the case in the market we went to. It's near impossible to barter when you can't communicate and you don't really know what you're buying. The market was very fascinating nevertheless. It was the central point for seemingly the entire town's population. All of the market sellers had their kids with them, more often than not they were attached to their back using some form of clothing.
As we drove through miles and miles of countryside the country became more of what I expected (yet again, still in a good way). The scattered football pitches looked marvellous and I definitely would have joined in with a quick 5 a side had there been anyone playing. Pretty much everyone in the countryside is a farmer, they have a nice bungalow ranch and plenty of space for their crops and animals. The animals were fantastic, they wouldn't roam free unless they were a dog but they would be tied to a marker on their land. This was the case for pigs, cows, horses, llamas and sheep.
We were lucky enough to have an arranged stop off at a remote traditional farm in the mountains. The contrast in our lives to theirs was universal. They had essentially one room within their hut for the entire family. Probably the size of the average British persons living room but with more height. Within this room everything was done; sleeping, eating. Their hospitality was great and they even let me hold one of their baby guinea pigs. In their house/room they had roughly 100 guinea pigs that would live there on the floor. Some of these would be sold to markets and some would be eaten by themselves. They call the guinea pig "cuy" in South america for their noise and this noise was well heard in their home.
Anyway, the point of this day trip, even with all of the small stop offs on the way, was to visit the Quilotoa loop. This is basically a extinct volcano crater that has left a turquoise coloured lake within it. We were given 2 hours to walk down to the lake and back up again from the edge of the crater. There is a path but it is very steep and they do offer mule rides. We refused said ride and boy do I regret that. Now the trail was only 1.7km each way which is not above the bounds of my rather unfit body. However, if you then take into account that this was happening at 3800m above sea level then you may start to gather an idea as to why I found this so painstakingly difficult. With every step I was on the verge of gasping for breath. The views were all worth it. The shear size and colour of the lake with the volcano crater around it was breathtaking.
I'm looking forward for a good rest after this, or at least until we do part of the climb up 5800m volcano Cotopaxi.
