Blogs from Otavalo, North, Ecuador, South America
Ecuador - land of home-made ice cream?
Published: May 22nd 2012South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo
May 22nd 2012
A lazy rest day in San Agustín after our epic ride into the Páramo and we're ready to say goodbye to Colombia after seven absolutely wonderful weeks - it's Ecuador's turn now. Despite our as-the-crow-flies proximity to the Ecuadorian border the broken geography of this part of the world means no fewer than five separate buses and two days to get to the border. A short pickup ride takes us to the large town of Pitalito, where we climb into the very overloaded back of another pickup - complete with crazy crowing roosters in a special carrying case (see previous entry) - which takes us, at insane speed, to the small town of Mocoa. The road twists and turns for three hours and leaves us both a not so fetching shade of green. No bolsas were ... read more
May 21st 2012
Day 219 Thursday 17th May Awoken at 1.30am by a car pulling into the carpark below, they were continually opening and slamming closed the doors and beeped the doors opened and closed for about 5 minutes then it went quiet. A few minutes later they were in the hallway outside our door having a conversation, the problem is there are open slat vents above the doors so the sound proofing is non-existent. I know over the years there has been criticism of the Sydney Opera House, we have the answer for the sound engineers come to the Hotel Metropol they have the perfect acoustics you can hear every sound from every room just like it is inches from you. This leads me to the next events, we had not realised that we got a ... read more
May 6th 2012
Had fun at the Otavalo market today, got some nice stuff, including some jewlery and a warm alpaca sweater! Huuge artisan market, great selection and prices ( though of course you have to bargain!) Took long than expected to get there, and the market closed early as it was raining ( didn't get many pictures, either) but still loads of fun shopping. Going to Galapagos tomorrow, crazy excited! No internet, so next update won't be until the 13 or 14. Off to go stare at boobies (blue footed ones, of course!) and other interesting animals. Can't wait!... read more
An animal market where the animals are still alive...really??
Published: May 26th 2012South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo
April 9th 2012
Otavalo and Quito There was definitely a big part of us that was more than sad to leave Colombia after all of the great times we had, but we know we’re also lucky enough to have plenty more to look forward to. We walked across the bridge saying our goodbyes to Colombia. We were stamped into Ecuador within 30 minutes and on a collectivo to Tulcan. There we grabbed a bus to Otavalo and we soon found ourselves enjoying the same stunning views we had been spoiled with in Colombia. The postcard pictures were everywhere on both sides of the bus as we got a little more excited to get started in a new country. For just about everyone who visits Otavalo, the main attraction here is the largest market in South America and it happens ... read more
March 17th 2012
Thursday 8th March - Otavalo A good nights sleep and we were ready for our 1st inclusive breakfast for a while which even included table service. 3 blocks from our hostal and we were at the central market which the town is famous for and regarded as being the largest of its kind in South America when it's at full strength each saturday. For the rest of th week it's a sclaed down version which is probably better for buyers as it's much quieter and therefore the sellers are a little more negotiable. It wasn't long before Stacie had made her 1st purchase, a lovely pair of alpaca ponchos for the bargain basement price of 8 dollars each after some hard negotiating. Similar ones in the UK would fetch at least 100 pounds each. The cash ... read more
January 22nd 2012
We should have finished this blog already while we were still on the road but better late then never. So here we go: As we mentioned before, after we returned from our amazing jungle trip, we stayed a couple more days in Quito before we headed further north towards Colombia. Our last stop in Ecuador was Otavalo, a small town famous for its market and bird rescue park. The market was HUGE, we have seen plenty of markets during our trip but this one was exceptional. The stalls spread all over the main square and into the adjacent streets and the street vendors offered all kinds of goods: crafts, jewelery, clothes, fabrics, wooden instruments, food, souvenirs. Everything. We did spend some money on souvenirs there but my heart still aches that I couldn't buy a hand-woven, ... read more
Otavalo...something for everyone!
Published: November 5th 2011South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo
October 22nd 2011
I enjoyed my day tour of Otavalo. It was scheduled through Simon Bolivar school in Quito. The tour started off with a sampling of local fruit called Chirimoya in Guayllabama. The fruit was green on the outside (looked kind of like a artichoke) and white on the inside. It was sweet and yummy. Apparently at larger amounts its a great cure for constipation :) Then we had a delicious desayuno in Cayambe. Cayambe is famous for its bizcochos and lactose (milk and cheese). The bizcochos were a bit dry for my taste...but not bad with coffee. After breakfast, we had a quick tour around San Pablo del Lago. The next part of the tour included first a visit to Mercado de Animales and then Mercado de Artesanias. The Mercado de Animales included the sale of every ... read more
September 13th 2011
(Some of the pictures don't show up in the post. If you click on any of the ones that do, it'll take you to a page where you can view all of them.) Today is the one-month mark of my trip! Thinking back, it seems like I've been here for a much shorter time, but at the same time the days and weeks sometimes drag. Overall I'm really enjoying it. I think every day is filled with a range of ups and downs, varying in intensity, but I've started feeling somewhat at home here. In an update on my last post, I got my ICRP situation figured out. I'll be working at the student radio station, which is going to involve doing some programming stuff and attending some concerts. I think it will be really fun. ... read more
June 8th 2011
Woke up, got dressed, had breakfast (salted boiled egg, freshly squeezed orange juice, and instant coffee), and was at Mariana’s at 8:30 sharp, like she told me. Yea right. Today marked the trip to Otavalo. I waited for Mariana until 9 at the earliest with Sandra, another volunteer from Houston. Another thing Royal told me when I first arrived in Quito, ¨no one is one time here.¨ We left with Miguel and Lucho, our driver, and picked up Amanda and Stephen, other volunteers, and Stephen´s father, John. As we began our trip, dozing on and off, low clouds covered the tops of mountains, suspended above the city. We wound and snaked our way along the mountains listening to festive meringue and other tourist-y Latino pop music. Our first stop was at a rest area overlooking el ... read more
April 25th 2011
This is my second attempt at writing up my blog as I spent over an hour updating it last week and for some reason it didn't publish or save anything. The PC I'm using now is really slow so not sure how my patience will bear up! We arrived in Otavalo on April 25th and found a hostal with ease near the bus "terminal" called Hostal Mashys. Huge room, balcony with views of Cotopaxi volcano & private bathroom all for $US15 - bargain! The town is famous for it's market which I did manage to have a look around although David kept asking if I really needed things and when would I use them so I didn't buy a bag I had my eye on & now regert it. I plan to go shopping alone in ... read more
