Otavalo and (a bit of) Ibarra

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The problem with writing about events so long after they actually happened is that a lot of the detail is lost to me.
Again I'm a week behind on the blog. But I've got an afternoon free so I'm determined to get totally up to date today...let's see how I get on!

Saturday (10th April) morning, I'd already got my cab booked (Pedro, of course) to take me to one of the north terminals so that I could get a bus up to a small town called Otavalo.

All I knew of Otavalo was that it was famous for its Saturday market of locally made handicrafts - alledgedly one of the biggest (if not the biggest) in South America. Although it looked like a sleepy little place from the guidebook, I figured the break from the hustle and bustle of Quito would do me good so I booked myself in for a couple of nights at Doña Esther before I left.

I had time in the morning to grab a shower and breakfast (and get some shots of the hotel) at Cayman before Pedro arrived (right on time, of course) at 9.30.

As we were driving out of town (the terminals are a good $10 cab ride from the center), and without explanation, I suddenly felt really lazy 😊 I asked Pedro how much it would cost to take me all the way to Otavalo. It turned out that a couple of hour's worth of cab ride would cost me about the same as it usually costs me to get home in a cab on an average night out in London (well, that's how I justified it to myself anyway 😊
I should point out that I had all of my stuff with me (back pack, day bag, guitar etc) because I had no idea where I would be heading after Otavalo - that also helped to justify the decision.

Whilst I'm on the subject of cabs (and I don't know if I've mentioned this before, so forgive me if I have), I love the way that the cabs operate here. In London you find yourself virtually having to beg a cab to pick you up and take you home (well, it's better since the recession struck). But over here in South America, if a cab is empty and he (I've only seen one female taxi driver here) sees you, he'll give you a little pip on the horn - just to let you know that he's there. It does lead to some situations where, if you're waiting for somebody on a street corner, you end up stripping the gears from your neck as you turn away a succession of cabbies with an apologetic shake of the head...but it's nice to see taxi drivers who are actually willing to work - even if they do have a nasty tendency of trying to rip you off.

Anyway, enough of that digression.

The road to Otavalo leads through some pretty mountainous terrain. It's noticeable how much less green the general scenery is in Ecuador compared to Colombia. That's not to say that there aren't areas of amazing greenery - the shots from Baños (the next post) are adequate proof of that. It's just that, generally, there is less greenery - remarkable given the amount of rain that I've seen in the last two weeks!

Well, Pedro and I had a good old chat as we snaked through the clay-walled mountain roads to get to Otavalo. He explained with pride of how his wife is nearly 30 years younger than him, told me about his kids etc. It was sort of sweet that, when we eventually arrived in the outskirts of Otavalo (we had to stop a couple of times to ask directions), he explained that he needed to call his wife to explain that he'd be home late for lunch and dashed into one of the countless call shops that are scattered up and down streets seemingly everywhere in South America.

Actually finding the hostel was a bit of a challenge. Although the center of Otavalo is pretty small, Pedro clearly (and understandably) wasn't as familiar with its streets as he was with those of Quito. In the end I told him to just drop me in the main square and I'd find the place by foot - it made sense given the slow moving traffic and the number of circuits that we'd already made of the town. It turned out to be a good decision - despite being weighed down with all my kit, I found the hostel in about 4 minutes.

The welcome at Doña Esther was plenty friendly and I was shown to my basic but comfortable room on the 2nd floor.

It was lunchtime (funny how frequently that phrase shows up in my postings), so I unpacked the essentials and headed straight into the center of the action - a place called Plaza de Ponchos, 4 blocks north from the hotel.
The market began well before the Plaza itself, stalls stretched almost as far as the hotel itself. But I was hungry and vowed not to stop at any of the stalls until I'd gotten something for lunch.
I'd read (in my guidebook) about a place called Bella Vista that had a balcony that overlooked the main market square. As I approached the main square there was virtually no room to move as tourists jostled to buy and locals jostled sell their wares. It took a couple of slow circuits around the outside of the plaza before I finally found Bella Vista.
I ordered a jacket potato and chilli con carne - not very local but I really had a hankering for it once I'd seen it on the menu. And as I ate (and right on cue at about 2pm) it began to rain. And rain. And rain!
A sea of blue and white tarpaulin spread out across the square as market vendors struggled to protect their goods from the atrocious conditions. I waited for the skies to clear, chatting to a couple in the restaurant while I waited (both from London, one went to York university...never found out their names).
At about 3.30pm it was finally safe to venture outside. Remarkably the market was still busy with people (although not quite as busy as it was). I walked around the market, taking in all that I could. The problem that I had (as I think I've already explained) is that I have absolutely no room left in my luggage - it's already full to bursting point. It's a shame because there were some great buying opportunities - but my will held firm and (due in no small part to the continuing rain) after a relatively short time I headed back to wards the hostel.
It was about 4.30pm and I decided to have a quick nap until 5.30.
What I forgot to mention was that, whilst I was in the restaurant, I'd called Ana (remember I'd met her in Quito earlier in the week). We arranged to meet up in Ibarra (a slightly bigger town than Otavalo, about 40 minutes bus ride from Otavalo). We were to meet at 6.30 in the terminal.

So, at about 5.30 I set off to the terminal (7 blocks north from the hotel). The bus itself wasn't exactly plush but it wasn't a mini bus at least...even so, it wasn't really big enough for the number of people that wanted to ride in it and soon enough it was standing room only. I had a seat at least.
As we approaced Ibarra, I could see an enormous black cloud hanging over the city. Inevitably, as we entered the city the rain began. Equally inevitably the rain got heavier and heavier as we neared the terminal. I'd be fine so long as the driver parked near the covered section of the terminal - of course, he parked about as far away from cover as was possible within the confines of the terminal.
I dashed across the terminal forecourt ignoring oncoming buses (they had brakes, after all) and reached shelter feeling more than a little damp.

Remarkably (given the number of people around) I found Ana pretty much immediately as I entered the terminal.
We hung in the terminal for a while in the hope that the rain would subside but it didn't so we jumped into a cab and rode into the center of town to a bar called La Hacienda. It was a really lovely bar - if you're ever in Ibarra, I suggest hunting it out. It looks (on the inside) like a converted barn, complete with straw bales stacked around the wooden tables. The beer is good and the deserts looked great (I didn't try any - deserts don't go so well with beer!).

Well, Ana and I had a good chat for a couple of hours before she had to head off. I decided to go to see what I could find to eat in town. As I wandered through the dark streets I didn't feel totally safe - largely because the street was pretty much empty. I wondered where everybody was - it was Saturday afterall. Well, I stumbled upon a Canadian bar and stopped for some Nachos and watched the local football match on the TV, chatting to a couple of locals about the various merits or otherwise of the competing teams - I feel less of a fake talking about South American football, perhaps because there is no reason for me to have heard of any of the teams.

It would be a $12 ride back to the hotel - not bad considering the distance. And I really didn't fancy taking a bus back - it was still raining and I had no idea how long I'd have to wait at the terminal.

As we approached Otavalo, it stopped raining and started pouring. It was actually impossible to see out of the windscreen despite the wipers being on their fastest setting. If it were me, I would have pulled over - but my driver was fearless and he aquaplaned through the newly created rivers that used to be roads until we got to the hotel...well, nearby anyway. He actually dropped me the wrong end of the street and, given that I couldn't actually see anything for rain, I had no idea until I actually got out onto the street that I was in the wrong place. It was a mad dash to the hotel and I arrived soaking wet. Despite my intention to head to a club in the center of town, by the time I'd arrived at the hotel, drenched and chilly, I thought better of it and turned in for the night.

Sunday I woke, had breakfast and started to blog - my intention being to spend however long it took to get up to date. Annoyingly I lost my internet connection at about 10am and when I went downstairs to find out what was going on, I learned that the electricity company was working on the sub-station and that the electrics would be out until 5pm!!!

I decided to head towards Bella Vista (I knew from the previous day that they had WiFi).

On the way, I stopped at Plaza Central, which is one block west from the hotel. I could hear a band playing and walked around the square, trying to find the source of the music. It turned out that the music was moving (explains why it took so long to track down!) - a small band marched around the square belting out (what I assume is) traditional music. Was pleased to be able to get some of it on video.

As I walked towards Plaza de Ponchos (and Bella Vista) it became clear that the entire town was without electricity! I would have to manage without internet connectivity for the day.
No matter, I continued. I wanted to see what Plaza de Ponchos was like without the market there.

As I entered the square, I was surprised to see that, far from being empty, the plaza was full of market stalls. Nowhere near as full as the day before, but there were plenty of goods and trinkets to choose from. Honestly, the Saturday market is impressive in terms of scale, but the Sunday market is much more relaxed and (for me, at least) fun to look around. On Saturday there are so many stalls that sell basically the same thing that you don't actually miss that much.
When I'd left the hotel it was cloudy and looked like it might rain any moment. As a result I took my umbrella but didn't take my hat. As I arrived at the Plaza the sun was beating down with ferocity and I could feel my head burning...so I figured I'd be a decent consumer and had a look around for a hat - just about the only thing that I can buy without adding to my luggage. I found a great cowboy style hat made entirely of brown leather - kind of Indiana Jones-ish. A bit of bartering and I walked away with (what I think was) a decent deal - paid $15. It's probably $5 for a local :D

Well, I spent a good while wandering around the market without actually buying anything else (apart from an orange juice) before heading back towards the hotel for lunch. Remarkably the electricity outage hadn't stopped them serving anything from their menu - cooking with gas baby...and an amazing wood burning oven for the pizzas. As I ate, it rained again - millions of globs (I can't think of a better word for it) bouncing off the courtyard floor. At least I was dry!

Well, I spent most of the afternoon writing the blog up in Notepad (much as I'm doing now - the restaurant that I'm in has just lost its internet connection). Electricity was finally restored at a reassuringly timely 5.15pm. In the evening I headed out to get some dinner - a particularly good lasagne. Nobody was about. It was an astonishingly quiet night.

By Monday morning, I was itching to leave Otavalo - it's a nice place but I'd had enough of the place by the time that I'd left. I'd spent some of Sunday deciding where I'd go next. I wanted to head down to a place called Baños which was about 4 hours south of Quito. So it made sense to head back to Quito for a day.

So that's what I did. And that's the topic of the next post.

Hasta luego!

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Photos

08 - Plaza de Ponchos #1
...a sea of white an blue tarpaulin

09 - Plaza de Ponchos #2
during the downpour

14 - Doña Esther #1
My room

15 - Doña Esther #2
The Courtyard