OK, so Saquisili Market was great, outstanding, excellent ... Otovalo Market was just as good (even maybe a tiny bit better!). We were sceptical about Otovalo, it's on the main package tourist trail and we thought the whole market might now be focused on the tourist trade. Since we weren't in the market for nik naks we weren't sure this market was for us. But first, let me tell you, the town of Otovalo is really nice. Filled with good quality local shops, a couple of lovely plazas and churches, loads of restaurants and a great, friendly feel to it. Our [View Full Entry]

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Åååh nej jeg er da kommet frygtelig bagud med blog-skrivningen. Nå jeg vil lige hurtigt fortælle hvad jeg lavede i min 2. weekend i Ecuador - dvs. for ca 10 dage siden. Lørdag d. 10 oktober Lørdag var det tidligt op på trods af byturen dagen inden og afsted til Otavalo. June min overivrige og glade japansk-canadianske værelseskammerat havde en hel lille kuffert med - delvist fordi hun ikke vidste hvordan været ville blive og derfor havde en masse tøj med, delvist fordi hun regnede med at gå shop-amok på lørdagsmarkedet i Otavalo. Susanna havde lidt mave-problemer men det gik hel [View Full Entry]

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OTAVALON VARKAUS 10.9.2009 Eilen Otavalossa minulta katosi kamera, kännykkä, kahdet reseptisilmälasit, takki, ajokortti ja 20 dollaria rahaa. Todella taitavia, nopeita ja valikoivia varkaita, pakko on ihailla. Olin menossa takaisin bussiterminaaliin palatakseni Quitoon. Taksissa minulla oli vielä kaikki tallessa, koska tarkistin, kuten aina tarkistan, että kamera, rahat, kännykkä jne... ovat paikalla. Varkauden on täytynyt tapahtua 30 sekunnissa siirtyessäni taksista bussiin, koska heti istuuduttuani bussiin totesin repun vaikuttavan epäilyttävän tyhjältä ja kevyeltä. Heti tajusin, mitä oli [View Full Entry]

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Saturday in Otavalo, 2 hours north of Quito, is market day! But it´s not just any market..the entire town turns into an incredible mesh of animals and crafts, food and pharmaceuticals, alpaca wool and cowboy hats. Literally every street is crammed with stalls all selling ecuador´s finest gifts (and tat). We got up really early to get the real experience of it all, and i´m glad we did. By midday the streets are absolutely crammed with people and suddenly the stall holders become a bit more aggressive! Otavalo itself is a really lovely town, like Quito at night it can feel [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday my friends Michelle, Scarlett and went to this small market town called Otovalo. It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Quito. It always amazes me how cheap things are here (except when the taxi drivers try to overcharge). We get to the bus station and the fair is $2 and when we get on the bus we had the privilege of watching “Man on Fire” (in Spanish). The bus ride was gorgeous. Mountains everywhere. As long as I live I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing the beauties of nature. We get [View Full Entry]

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Two Saturdays ago (the 22nd of August), I left Gringolandia (finally) and moved into the volunteer housing at El Centro del Muchacho Trabajador (CMT). This place is absolutely spectacular. I have a giant bedroom with windows overlooking Quito (right now I’m sitting on my bed at 11:30 pm, typing, listening to music, and looking at the city lights crawling up the mountain sides ) Yes, this is life. Anyway, I don’t nearly have enough stuff to fill up this unnecessarily large room. Seriously, a group of 4 could do yoga in here comfortably… I also have a private bathroom [View Full Entry]

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Border formalities done and another spectacular Andean road took us through to our first port of call in Ecuador, Otavalo (2500m). We had a lovely colonial hotel (even cable TV for a bit of premiership football), and the town itself is of medium size, and set brilliantly with massive Volcan Imbabura (4621m) behind the town and separating it from the town of Imbarra. The Friday we arrived we were wrecked and decided just to have something to eat and get to bed, we did encounter a street parade of the finalists for the Queen of the Yamor festival which was starting [View Full Entry]

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Arrived safely in Quito, Ecuador´s capital after a short transit flight into Panama. We passed the swineflu check at immigration and had a pleasant surprise as our bags also arrived. We had a lovely room in the loft at our Hotel with just the 4 beds and after settling in we caught the local trolley bus to the historic centre for some sightseeing. After all our fears about safety, its was no different to Commercial Rd at lunchtimes (well maybe a bit safer)! Now in Otavalo, a town in the mountains, with our tutor after a rather crazy bus journey from [View Full Entry]

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24th June- From Quito we headed north to a town called Otavalo which is known for its craft market. We arrived late afternoon on Wednesday (never believe them when they say the bus will only take 2 hours!) and having found somewhere to stay, we headed straight out into the market. It is colder than we were expecting in Equador so Alpaca socks, hats, blankets etc were the order of the day! You can get pretty much any craft that you want in this market, and in about any colour so we found it a bit too easy to part with [View Full Entry]

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...un mese di vita nella comunitá di El Paraíso, Valle Intag, Cotacachi, Imbabura, insegnando in una piccola scuola in una piccola comunitá: 27 famiglie, una sola macchina (che non funziona) e tanti passi! A casa della famaiglia Gomez: terra battuta e legna... e un cortile in cui razzolano bambini, galline, cuyes, cani, gatti, vitelli etc... Clima subtropicale, vegetazione e fauna rigogliose, foresta nebulare. Resistenza popolare alle compagnie minerarie. [View Full Entry]

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