Otavalo markets

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Saturday 17.7.2010 day 276
Otavalo markets
We got up early and got our 7:30 tour to Otavalo markets the largest markets in Sth America. There was lots of fantastic stuff to buy and I especially loved the food and flower sections. Ecuador is supposed to have the best roses as they grow straighter due to them being on the equator. I would love to have brought loads of stuff but I just cannot fit it in my pack especially when I have a few more weeks of carrying it around yet. I did see some new hiking boots that I would have liked to buy they were purple and very good quality and my old shoes are starting to fall apart. Asked how much holding one of them up and was told $24 witch was a good price so I looked around to see if I could get them cheaper but no one else had the colour I wanted in my size but they were all the same price if I wanted other colours. Then it started to rain so we went and looked at the food section which was under cover there were whole pigs with heads at each of the food stalls. It looked fantastic but we were stoping later for lunch. I went back to the food stall to get my shoes and was told now that they were $50 when I held both shoes up! I did not think it was worth bartering from that price when they were less then ½ price so I put the shoes down and walked off. It was a bit sad as they were very nice shoes; maybe I can get them somewhere else. I did get two t-shirts but both of the Galapagos one with a blue footed booby (I will wear it tomorrow) and the other of a Galapagos tortoise. On the trip we also got to try hot chocolate and cheese a local tradition and it was nice. We also saw lots of volcanoes and some waterfalls and a volcanic crater filled up with water. We meet up with the 2 English guys from the Galapagos tour at the markets. We had lunch at the volcanic lake it was very nice.

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