A Spontaneous Day Trip from Quito to Lake Quilatoa and Back!

One Saturday morning, I had the idea to venture out of the Quito for the day. For some reason that I can't remember now, I was feeling extremely restless. I think I was nearing the end of my semester in Ecuador, and I wanted to wring out every last drop of my time there before having to leave. BCA had done an amazing job of organizing a number of incredible group excursions to the Galapagos, the Amazon, and to the mountains and the coast throughout the course of the semester, but it's still fun to venture out on your own, especially in a country as ecologically diverse as Ecuador! Anyway, without much research, I invited my friend Brit to join me on the day's adventure. My host mother tried her best to dissuade me (she was, naturally, concerned about my well-being, which in hindsight I complete understand), but I was determined to live it up! It ended up being one of the longest and most tiring but most memorable days of my life. Brit and I ended up taking 2 buses and a pick-up truck to get to Lake Quilatoa, which is a gorgeous crater lake in the mountains a few hours from Quito. At each leg change in our journey, we didn't know how long we would have to wait and what mode of transportation we would have to take next. That was the most adventurous part! Finally, we reached the lake, and we were able to manage the hike down to the bottom, where its green water boiled like in an evil scene of a Disney movie. However, we nearly died having to hike back up due to the sandy nature of the soil. I think we forget that we were inside a volcano! Apparently there was a reason why almost everyone else hired a donkey. We were too cheap! Anyway, we survived, leg cramps and dehydration and all! We were able to meet some really interesting people along the way, and we were thankful for that. So in total, our adventure took us 16 hours, as we left Quito around 8 am, and didn't return until around midnight. My host mom was, of course, extremely relieved to see me, the loca gringa!