I had worked really really hard the past week, on not only the pond but also various other construction related projects in the school. On Saturday, I was planning on sleeping in and just doing nothing all day long. But Lizzy & Nicolas had other plans for me. At half past six on Saturday morning, they had already woken me up and were standing next to my bed with huge grins.

Thirty minutes later, Lizzy, Nicolas, Tanya, Ed, Dotahn, Emmily & I were headed towards the legendary Quilotoa caldera. It had been formed by a powerful volcanic eruption about 800 years ago. It has since accumulated water to form a 250 metre deep lake.

The first look at the lake just takes your breath away. It was one of the most amazing sights that I have ever witnessed! Mighty mountains forming a ring around the large lake filled with green water under the expansive sky, with not a single man-made structure in view. Everyone else in our group was equally mesmerized, because for a good five minutes nobody said anything. Everyone was trying to soak in the magnificient beauty of the place.

Emma & Damir had recently come to Quilotoa, and had gone down to the lake instead of trekking along the crater. According to them, going down to the water was not such a good idea because there’s nothing much to do once you get down there. Swimming is out of the question as the water is highly toxic. Then there is a gruelling two hour steep hike to get back up. They had advised us to trek around the crater, and not bother with going down. Unless your name is Mr. Lance Armstrong, you cannot go down to the lake, come back up and then do the trek along the crater on the same day.

The first look at Quilotoa

It was going to be a 12 km (7.5 mile) walk along the crater, which we estimated would take about 3 to 4 hours. But we totally underestimated that. By the time we had conquered the first climb, everyone was dead tired, and already considering going back the way we had come. Yours truly, who normally prides himself on being in decent shape and making hikes where others struggle look easy, was the last one to get up there.

The climb that almost killed me

Handsome horse along the way

White, white, brown, white, white

The peaceful but highly toxic water

Still a long way to go

But once we had rested for a bit and I had gotten acclimatised to the thin air, I was able to once again lead the the way. During the walk, sometimes you could see all the way till the horizon and only a few minutes later, passing clouds would limit visibility to only a few meters. But what strikes you the most is the astonishing variety of landscapes that you come across. For a while, you’re trekking on typical mountain terrain, and then suddenly you’re on barren land, then in a patch of cloudy pine forest, then on a sandy beach like area, then in a weird un-earthly landscape, then in a dense rainforest like region - the variety is simply incredible and very very strange. And all this, as Ed put it, when you’re looking at the lake from every f***ing angle possible :)

From the lush green valleys to wet marshland

From the wet marshland to the dense rainforest

From the rainforest and onto the moon

From the lunar surface and into the foggy pine forest

From the pine forest to the beach

From the beach back to the lush green valleys

Finally completing the circuit to where we had started from

All of us

It took us a good 5 hours, and every last bit of energy and willpower to finish the circuit, but in the end, it was a feat well accomplished and well worth the effort. The journey back to the hostel was swift because the Gods of transport were clearly on our side. We got the next connecting mode of transport almost as soon as we were out of the previous one.

For another great account of our trip, I would recommend Emmily & Dotahn’s blog post about it. They also made this excellent video!