arrived otavalo

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eating breakfast at the hostal i met Tony, from switzerland, who was also leaving quito on the morning bus. we took bus to near the bus terminal for quito central and caught a cab for last several blocks. Tony´s knapsack was stolen apparently as some locals helped us load our packs into the trunk of the cab. could have been me getting ripped off, there was only his and my packs in the trunk. Tony lost some money and most importantly his guidebood so he decided to stay in quito another day to try to replace the lost tome.
there´s been numerous times so far that payment for bus or taxi was overcharged or misstated (always higher) and this along with risk of outright theft of possessions requires you to be constantly on-guard against loss. Even though i dont speak much spanish i´ve so far succeeded in keeping loses to a minimum by questioning the stated price.
Arrived Otavalo at noon and wandered the sunday market which featured alot of brightly colored textiles. hooked up a guide tomorrow for volcan Imbabura, which at some 15,000 feet is a good conditioning hike for the higher altitude´s to be expected for many of the anticipated climbs for this trip. Lots of tourists (from many different countries) in this town and i´ll probably be based here for several days.

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Photos

Quito central from hillside overlook
quito is quite a sprawl as this photo shows in just the downtown historical city centro

mitad del mundo
the line of the equator goes through this point...although gps coordinates position it about 100 yards to the north.

otavalo sunday crafts market
saturday was the really big day but this is what it looked like on sunday