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Lunch Stop
Local market meat stallsFriday 14
th February (Odyssey Day 98)
We were planning on a 0800 start this morning, but breakfast at the hotel was eggs and took a rather long time to come, so we were a half hour late leaving. That’s not too bad considering we did get a very good breakfast in the end, one well worth the delay.
We stopped in a sizable town not too far along the way at about 1100. I have no recollection of what the name of the town was but the meet up time was to be 1230 as this would be the only practical place for everyone to buy lunch. It was rather odd to be having an early lunch for a change, it’s usually nearly mid-afternoon by the time we have a lunch stop.
Hannah, Mike, Eamon and I went with Simon and Emma to the big market to shop for dinner. Emma and Simon had a few things to do, so they left us alone to do the shopping. This was rather an interesting exercise as the markets were local ones
Otavalo Camp
Time to make some pizza - Danielle & Wayne and our Spanish is extremely limited.
It was definitely a lot of fun though. Deciding what we would need to make pizza for the whole group tonight (Eamon and I are on cook group and there is apparently a pizza oven at the camp) and how much would feed 23 people. Hannah kept track of what everything cost for the records and I kept track of the money. And of course the guys ended up doing the carrying of most of the produce as we purchased it…
The level we walked in on had stall after stall of meat hanging from hooks and in trays. The standard sides of meat, mince and chops, along with the slightly more unusual (for us) pigs heads, pigs ears, pigs skin, cow hooves, tongues, hearts, liver, intestines, etc. Then there were a few cheese stalls where we could buy chunks of cheese after tasting it, and grain stalls where we bought 3kg of plain flour (we hoped) after trying to mime the word ‘plain’… I mean, seriously? How on earth are you meant to convey that?
Otavalo Camp
Cook Group 'Pizza' - Wayne, Eamon, AJ, Danielle Downstairs there was stall after stall after stall after stall of vegetables and fruit. Hannah and I did the choosing of the food since the guys didn’t seem to have any idea and just looked at us blankly the one time we asked their opinion. Hopefully, we got enough food for dinner. Plenty of tomatoes, peppers (capsicum), cabbage, onion, lettuce, cucumber, and even some lovely pineapples. Everything we should need for pizza and salads. A few of the ladies even gave us some free chilies as well, which I found a bit odd but certainly didn't complain about.
We were a little late leaving but got on our way soon enough. It’s quite a nice day but the altitude as we go up and down the mountains makes it a bit too cool at times on the truck but not quite cool enough for a jacket. I’m not a fan of altitude and look forward to some beaches when we reach Colombia. I will miss the nice cool weather though.
It started raining just before 1400 as we headed over more mountains. Fortunately
Otavalo Camp
AJ & Danielle with the first pizzas by the time we reached Otavalo it had stopped and we were able to put up our tents without getting wet. We weren’t really sure about the clouds hanging on the horizon though, they didn't look promising.
The place we are staying is a lodge just on the outskirts of Otavalo. Within walking distance of the town but not really a part of it. A few people chose to upgrade to the hostel part of the camp rather than set up their tents but the majority chose to camp. There was just enough light left to get our tents up fortunately, as I have yet to buy a new head torch after losing my last one somewhere in the sand dunes of Peru.
Setting up quickly, cook team got right on to their cooking duties. Making up the dough and then chopping what seemed like endless vegetables while the dough was rising. And hey presto – pizza! Well, it was a little more work than that, but this campsite, miraculously, has a pizza oven as well as a kitchen of sorts. We also managed to raise
Otavalo
Interesting topiary an absentee toast to Pete and Kirsten (the guys in charge of Odyssey Overland) as they got married today. Or is that tomorrow? Truthfully, I’m not sure which time zone they are currently in…
Saturday 15
th February (Odyssey Day 99)
A large part of the group were up early to head in to Otavalo to see the livestock market this morning. However I decided that I would rather have a relaxing morning since it was nice and peaceful in the camp.
Hannah and I walked into town around 1100. We weren’t really sure where we were going as neither of us had a map, but Otavalo could be seen down the hill so we simply headed in that direction. It took about 30 minutes to get right into town, and then it was just a matter of walking down the busier streets and keeping an eye out for gringos to follow. This was how we found ourselves in the main markets where they sell all sorts of things to the tourists. Cloths, hammocks, clothes, hats,
Otavalo
Banana Split - with cheese shoes, jewellery, paintings, ornaments, bags, masks, etc. It was a few long streets of stalls and a whole lot of people.
I did manage to convince Hannah that it was essential for us to stop for a banana split, and was somewhat surprised that not only did it come out sprinkled in grated soft cheese, but that it actually tasted great that way. They like to put cheese on everything.
We caught a taxi back to camp in the afternoon, since we figured we had walked far enough for the day. When we arrived back at camp it was to see Maddie and Johnny using their machetes to whittle a new cricket bat and some stumps. Seems they were missing the one the dogs broke all the way back in Argentina.
We then spent some time there watching some local guys set up for a spiritual cleansing ritual of some sort involving aromatic fire and a sweat lodge. It looked interesting and we watched for quite a while before we eventually got smoked out and ended up over the
Otavalo
AJ perusing the markets, trying to avoid the temptation of buying things that aren't needed... road having a few pre-dinner drinks at the restaurant.
Dinner tonight was at the restaurant across from the camp and we ate at around 2000, which is relatively early for South America. We had soup, a choice of meat (I went with fish, which was perfectly cooked and delicious), and dessert. Some locals played music while we ate and some local kids danced and sang in Quechua for us (the language of a large portion of the indigenous people of the Andes). We were served some delicious local drink which was fruity and served warm, and it certainly made for an enjoyable evening.
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