The blue grey lakes are peaceful, surrounded by brown mountains, marked with jagged cracks, traces of former earthquakes, which are common in Ecuador.  On our next trip we hope to take a boat on lake at the top of the volcano near Cotacachi, where you can see bubbles risiing up, a sign it is still active. 

We boarded the bus from Cotacachi to Ibarra, (a 45 minute bus ride at the standard rate of 1 cent per minute) where we were the only "gringos," but it´s live and let live here. A  taxi driver took us through the town, which had very nice parks and buildings but was not quite as picturesque as we thought.  It is not a tourist town, so it might not be a place where Cameron could find work doing massage, or find some other expatriots or travelers.

Our driver was Columbian, along with many new arrivals in Ibarra from Colombia, just two hours away. He took us up to a statue of an archangel on the hill, where we had a view of the city and hills, and I felt safe enough to take out my video camera. As a treat he took us the long way back to the bus station. I must admit I had some moments of fear - after being warned about kidnappings of foreigners - that we were going in the opposite direction, but we soon turned onto a lake road filled with families and lovers enjoying themselves this Sunday at amusement parks, playing games, picnics among flowering bushes - we had to remember this was February.