Blogs from Otavalo, North, Ecuador, South America - page 4

Geo: 0.233333, -78.2667After getting up and getting ready today I wandered around the grounds of the hacienda and took photos. Then we had a buffet breakfast before getting on the bus We went to Parque Condor which is a preserve for birds of prey here in Otovalo. We were taken around the park by the man who founded it with help from the Dutch Government. The park was beautiful and we saw many birds including bald eagles and condors.After Parque Condor we went to a nearby field where we got to fly kites.Lunch was at a nice hotel right on a lake called Puerto Lago. I had beef and vegetable empanadas, a fried pork with hominy, avocado, sweet potatoes and plantains all followed by bread pudding.After lunch we went to Otovalo Market where we got to ... read more

The employees at the immigration desk were welcoming me warmly. Then I went further to the baggage claim and was waiting tired and excited for my backpack. But it didn't came. So I went to a desk especially for complaints about baggage which didn't arrive. There were already around 10 other people standing cause their baggage didn't arrive as well. Hours later, as it was finally my turn they confirmed me that my backpack got lost somewhere and they would send it after. I should come the next day again to pick it up... I just thought to myself: Bienvenida en Sur-america! At least I could bank on the two volunteers who were picking me up at the airport and bringing me to the voluntary apartement in Otavalo. It took us two hours by bus to ... read more

Alors chers lecteurs, la derniere fois que je vous avais donne des nouvelles, (il y a fort longtemps) nous arrivions a Otavalo- petit village autochtone qui a su garder un charme assez authentique (sauf le samedi, jour du marche ou les touristes affluent en bien trop grand nombre). Coup de coeur pour nous 4. On trouve un hotel super, le maitre dhotel est FORMIDABLE. Pour souper, on va manger des tacos vegetariens, tres bon. Petite ville super, les gens sont accueillants et pour la plupart vetus avec leurs habits traditionnels. Les hommes portent de longues tresses et les femmes des queues de cheval recouvertent par un tissu tipique du pays. Nous sommes bien contents detre ici, ca fait changement de la beach! Le lendemain, nous allons au petit marche faire le plein de fruits et legumes, ... read more

We woke up bright and early for our trip to Otavalo, which is a town with a market place run by the indigenous people of Ecuador,located a couple hours out of Quito. Saturday is supposed to be the best day to visit the market but we decided today would have to do. We went with a group from our hostel, which consisted of three Canadians, a Belgian, and a local tour guide. The traffic is just insane in Quito. It took us an hour or so to get out of the outskirts of Quito. Once we left the city, we were immersed with the gorgeous scenery and the Andes mountains. As we passed by miles of construction, our tour guide told us the new Quito airport was being built in the middle of the huge ravine ... read more

Day 16: Cuenca to Otavalo via Quito: Today we travelled most of the day (14 hours!), so we didn't take any photos. I'll add photos of our hostal in Otavalo and the little place we ate dinner there just so there'll be some photos. The lady in the hostal in Cuenca called a taxi to take us to the bus terminal at 6:15am. After a short ride, we arrived at the terminal to discover that the express, "direct" bus to Quito would be going afterall. We bought two tickets at $10 each on the Super Taxis Cuence bus and waited to board. It looked like a nice new bus, so we had high hopes. We soon discovered that apparently the word direct doesn't mean the same thing in Ecuador as it does in the states, as ... read more