Continuing with the second half of our road trip.
So after being chicken and turning back on the 4×4 road we headed towards Otovalo. Daniela said our choices were Lagunas Monjanda which we had been to or a new place to us called Cubilche. I voted for the new place. A dirt road destination not to far from the town.
Cubilche is a group of small lakes on top of the surrounding mountains. It reminded me of some of the high alpine lakes above Markleeville CA. One of my favorite areas in California. Can easily spend week fishing for golden trout and doing some local hiking there. Just breath takingly beautiful and one of my favorite spots in the world.
Back to Cubilche. The hike was short, only 3km and it should have taken a little more than an hour. Took me 2 hours. I’m not sure of the starting elevation but the summit was 3840m (12,596 ft). The trail was all up hill. The others didn’t even slow down but it was a good work out for me. We arrived at the first lake just a the sun was going down.
Had some light rain overnight, nothing too hard. In the morning I got up early and hiked to the ridge to watch the sunrise. When the others got up they went for a short hike then we headed down the hill. Of course I was trailing behind everyone on the way down. It did make me feel good to see some of the locals I passed that were heading up doing a little huffing and puffing of their own. Nice trip but again a little quick. I would have liked to camp another night. Guess who was the dummy that forgot the camp stove in the car. A first for me on a overnight hike was that we carried full cans of beer back down!
Thanks again to Daniela for finding interesting and beautiful places off the beaten path to check. I’m also thankful to her and her friends for putting up with my lack of the Espanola language and putting up with me in general. I have been picking it up slowly but not very well. Makes me feel like a shunsho. I have been very lucky having so many wonderful people around me!
You all go out have a wonderful day now. God bless.
