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Published: August 6th 2023
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We started our journey around 10:30. We left in the car with Esteban, Ellen, Simone, Henry (Ellen’s dad), Susan and I. Ellen’s dad lives in the house. He has a separate suite off the upper-level terrace. Her dad is 89 and is in excellent health. Our first stop was to Ellen’s brother’s place. Simone was going to stay with them for the day. We got to meet her brother and her niece. The 5 of us then took off to the markets in Otavalo. The traffic was slow but the drive there was beautiful. Otavalo is about 1.5 hours away but with the slow traffic and 3 stops it took us longer. The views during the drive were dramatic.
Our first stop was for views at Mirador El Pisque. We saw a canyon and took pictures. Our next stop was at to get some local biscuits to snack on in the car. They were tasty but very dry so we had to drink a lot of water. There was a small store to the side and I saw this really colorful scarf but when I pulled it off the rack, I went what??? We were all puzzled by
it until Esteban put it on to show us how to wear it. You see it was a tube (see picture).
Along the route we saw thousands of greenhouses where roses and other flowers are grown. Ecuador exports these and is one of the largest exporters of roses in the world. Our final stop before Otavalo was to get a great view of the Imbabura volcano and the lake beside it. There are 105 volcanos in Ecuador. 21 of these are in the Galapagos; The remainder are on the mainland. Some are dormant but many are still active. Some are snow capped but all are dramatic
We arrived in Otavalo and found parking and started our shopping in the market. There were 100s of local artisans packed into the streets and main square. Of course, we all bought many items. Susan and I have compared prices on some of these items with Amazon. Cost in the market $20, Amazon $150. *********
After the market we drove to Cotacachi, the leather capital of Ecuador. We first stopped a t Cotacachi is considered the "Leather Capital of Ecuadorhe Red Rabbit where we had
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Ellen, Esteban, and her dad linner (early dinner). Susan and I had strawberry lemonade and a pizza bagel. After dinner we walked around the town and bought more items. Sorry Tom, there were no leather skirts for me. If you wanted leather jackets, purses, gloves, or belts, this was the place to go. Again, we all bought items. Around 7:30 we left to drive home. On the drive back, I saw the area of red lights (sorry no picture). I asked what it was. Esteban said that is one of the areas with greenhouses containing roses. The red lights were infrared lights to help keep the roses warm at night. When we arrived home, we put everything we all bought on the table and took pictures. I’m not posting the pictures since some of the gifts are Christmas presents.
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