We left Quito in search of a tiny village called Quilotoa where there is a beautiful crater lake. The journey was relatively long but not too traumatic except for a very long taxi ride at the start that had us all a little worried we were going the entire way by taxi (costing $70 compared to $4.50). We made it to the very small village and found some accommodation! It was a "nice" little room with a stove they would only light in the afternoon and as it was near 4000m high it was fairly cold. There is little to do there but walk and as it was already the afternoon the three of us sat with blankets watching films for the afternoon!

We got up the following morning and headed for the crater lake - it was pretty stunning and after some warning from a local about never going down because a tourist died 2 weeks before we headed off! We enjoyed the first bit of the walk - although I think it was probably harder than we were expecting. But we battled on, then the clouds started to come in, which was pretty at first but soon we couldn't see in front of our noses and managed to get a little misplaced - we just lacked courage in our convictions (this may have been due to the cloud, or the recent death who knows) but we met another group and were able to follow them for the rest of the hike! We made it around the lake, the trip took 6 hours which is what the guidebook said it should take (if you are a fit walker - meaning that is what we must be! We made it back to the village and absolutely wrecked we had some lunch and returned to the hostel where we finished our time in Quilotoa watching films and playing cards. The trip to Quilotoa was really enjoyable - it was a tad out of the way and while there is little to do other than a bit of hiking the views on the hike are absolutely stunning. It is also really cool to see a truly rural village - it really is out in the sticks!