Craters, volcanos, lakes, waterfalls and more.

It´s hard to breathe at 12,000 feet, especially after three bus trips, the last was standing and white-knuckled as the bus screeched around hairpin turns and the chicks in the brown paper bag scratched and clucked away in similar anticipation to my own. The roads are wet, as everything has been and erosion here is a big big problem. At one point in the trek all passengers had to get out of the bus because it was sliding down the mountain road under its weight. We walked down a couple of switchbacks before boarding the bus again.

Laguna de Quilotoa is an enormous opaque turquiose puddle spanning the bottom of a crater high up in the Andes. The small town adjacent to the lake is full of green felt fedora wearing indeginous folk. Bright red sweaters and wool pashminas add color to the richly green mountain sides that sit cold and quiet with fog that sweeps in an out in a matter of minutes. Climbing around the interior of the crater was thrilling- the cliffs drop straight down and the mudslides are recent and very real. There is a lot of littering here and garbage is burned daily, which dyes the edges of this stunning place with a strange smell and a reminder that people are constantly subject to the environment rather than in control of it.

Met some friends here. Shared stories straddling the equator line, cartwheels over it, hand stands, staying at the Secret Garden in Quito and eating huge communal dinners with travelers from all over the world. It´s pretty much a big party on the Gringo Trail: cheap, thrills, quick friends in the midst of everyone trying to find something that means something. Or something that moves them.

Michelle, Alicia, Liz and myself are stuck in Baños cause it´s too damn fun here. The volcano is smoking, but hard to see on most days as the clouds come in and sit right on top of it by 10am every day. There are thermal baths, hiking, pub crawls and oh yeah, Carnival. Last night was the official evening- huge parades: bands, dance troups, clowns, cross dressers, devils and then the crowd that turned into a huge water fight with squirt guns and silly string. Dios Mios, the silly string. Pretty much everyone is your enemy and they try to squirt foam straight into you face. Totally awesome and fun until some of that nasty soapy stuff went straight into my eye and then I got pegged with an egg. Gross. It´s okay though, I chased the guy down and screamed at him in my fluent Español. He told me it´s how all the guys flirt around here. Yeah. Totally ready to date that guy now after the romantic gesture of raw egg in my hair. Michelle and I hit the strip, bathed in the bano sink and danced salsa the rest of the night.