Our two day tour started today, we left Quito at 7am on a minibus which took us a couple of hours to a market selling mostly fruit, vegetables and meat, we didn't buy anything other than Kat bought one banana for $0.10. It was probably more interesting that Otavalo market as it was for locals rather than tourists. On the drive there we had all kinds of animals running out in front of us - llamas, dogs and cows! A police car pulled up in front of us to move a dead cow in the road, they must get hit all the time! We then stopped at an indigenous hut to see how these families live purely on agriculture. They slept and lived in a room full of guinea pigs, chickens and cats! The guide told us they didn't have electricity although there was an ariel outside which looked a bit suspicious.

We then carried on to Quilotoa, stopping once more for a view point to take pictures of volcanic formations and craters. The walk down to the lake was sandy and incredibly dusty and rocky in parts, we all had sandy eyelashes and shoes full of sand by the end! Kat and I both fell on our bums once on the way down! I wore my army boots for the first time to wear them in, they need a good clean now. It was worth the walk as the views of the lake were spectacular! Kat, Eddy and Browny decided to hire mules which would meet them at the bottom to bring them back up. The walk back up wasn't too bad but a few people were suffering! I gave my water to one girl who was really struggling. I reached the top before the girls and managed to get a couple of pictures of them! Kat said she felt guilty that she was being led up by a young boy, he was 11 years old and did the walk 3 times a day which is quite impressive! He was practically running at some points even though she told him he could stop and rest! I think they are keen to get up so they can go back down and take more people. He looked delighted when she gave him a $3 tip at the end though!

I don't think there was anyone left awake on the way back to PapaGayo, everyone was worn out from the early start and cold winds! We were glad to get back and have warm showers. Eddy and Browny were put in a room outside with a big gap under the the door, luckily they had a heater to warm them up! Kat, Browny and I all had pasta for dinner for a change, Eddy stuck to chicken, her favourite! We then played cards for the last time as a group of four, getting excited about our lie in tomorrow until 9.30! Unfortunately our excitement was shattered when we found out we were actually getting picked up at 7 so breakfast would be at 6.30 :(. We quickly headed to bed to get some sleep before our hike tomorrow as it was getting late (10pm)!