We wanted to give Fuya Fuya another shot today but again we woke to rain this morning. We decided that it would be better to walk around Cuycocha Lake so we took a taxi there and asked the driver to come back and pick us up at 3:00 p.m. The weather wasn't too bad and the view of the lake (actually a caldera in the middle of the volcano) was spectacular. The hike was about 15 km and the altitude was about 3700 meters or 14,000 feet so we weren't sure how hard this was going to be. I was actually not feeling so great today so that was already going to make it more difficult for me. So we started out in a counter-clockwise direction because the guard at the gate wouldn't let our taxi driver take us a few kilometers down the road to the end point of the hike as the owner of our hostel recommended we do. By going in this direction it meant we had to walk the whole way including a large part just on the road. Bummer.

The hike immediately started climbing along a very narrow and steep ridge with amazing views to both sides - to the left was the laguna and to the right a beautiful green valley and the mountains and towns of Cotacatchi and Otavalo. The weather was a little unstable. Clouds and fog kept rolling in and rolling out and rain came here and there but not really so bad. We just put on the ponchos and kept going. The grassy hills were covered with beautiful wild flowers and the laguna so far down below us was like a piece of glass.

The hike turned out to be pretty exhausting because the uphill climb just didn't seem to end. When it looked like we were half way around the lake we started to go downhill a bit but it was just playing tricks on us. We actually had to go all the way down to a valley where a river was so we could cross the river and then climb back up again! You just can't underestimate the effect the high altitude had when climbing up all the time. I was really gasping for air. My upset stomach was definitely not enjoying it either.

We were starting to worry that we wouldn't be able to get back to the gate of the park in time and at one point Sivanne said I looked like I was going to cry when we came around the side of one ridge and saw that we had to climb down into another valley and up the other side again! She was right! Finally at the end we reached a little settlement in a pine forest called "Los Pinos" and came out onto the road mentioned earlier. We started walking back to the park entrance along the road and luckily a pickup truck passed by and offered us a lift to the gate. With his help we were able to get back to our taxi ride right at 3:00. An exhausting but absolutely beautiful hike!