Mitad del Mundo, Otavalo, Quito

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We started this trip in Ushuaia at the end of the world. Now, after four months, we´ve finally reached the middle of the world. On the 13th, we visited the Mitad del Mundo monument north of Quito. It is a super-touristy "mini-city". But we went to take pictures on the equator. Yes, we took an hour long bus ride to take pictures of an imaginary line. Very cheesy, we know. But we figured, "When´s the next time we´re going to be this close to the equator?"

The next day (a Thursday), we headed for Otavalo to beat the hoards of other tourists that would be pouring in for the famous Saturday market. This also gave us a couple extra days to shop. We knew at the beginning of our South American travels that we´d be here near the end of our trip. We´d been putting off souvenir shopping until Otavalo. Guess where you might be getting a present from (if you´re fortunate enough to get one, that is)?

It was raining when we arrived in Otavalo. This is the first rain we´ve seen in two months (last was Pisco Elqui, Chile). Keep in mind July and August are supposed to be the dry season here in Ecuador. Despite the rain, we still decided to stroll around town. Found a delicious chicken meal for $1.20 at Super Pollo. Aside from breakfast at the hostal, this was to be our last good meal in Otavalo. We tried several places recommended in the guidebook, but none were impressive and most were overpriced.

We stayed at the Rincón del Viajero, run by an American, Dennis, and Laura, his Equadorian wife. They lived for a while in Ohio before Laura finally convinced him to move back to Ecuador. She grew up in Otavalo and had the idea of running a place. We had a long conversation about the Ecuadorian dollarization. Economics is FUN!

The second day we started our shopping. We went to the market (which runs every day of the week, just smaller than Saturday) and saw what everyone was selling. We also compared prices among vendors because their quotes can be quite different. That afternoon, we set out on the short walk (about 30 min) to Peguche and the Peguche waterfall. We managed to not get lost, but not find the waterfall either (missed the turn off). We did make it to Peguche and went to a popular weaving workshop, Cotacachi. We got to meet José C. and some of his family members. We watched him and others weaving and bought some tapestries.

Saturday. The big day! Otavalo´s Saturday Market is famous in South America. It actually consists of three separate markets, the animal market, the fruit and vegetable market, and the artisanal market. We strolled through the food markets and considered buying someone a souvenir piglet from the animal market. The funniest part of the animal market was seeing a teary-eyed gringa with a "V is for Vegetarian" t-shirt on. We were thinking, "What do expect to see from an animal market? This is people´s livelihood. Get over yourself. Go back to California."

The artisanal market doubled or tripled in size from the day before. It spread like a virus from the Poncho Plaza, invading all the feeder streets. Oddly, the side streets were the busiest and the most overpriced. Once we made it onto the plaza, it was calm and prices dropped dramatically. We went on a spending spree. Hope you all like llama fingerpuppets. Just kidding.

We returned to Quito that afternoon. Our second stay here in the capital. We still had not done any real sight-seeing. We finally remedied that situation. Today we walked around the old colonial part of Quito. Sunday is not the best of days to roam because most of the shops are closed, but there are still large amounts of people walking about. We went to the Basilica and climbed the belfry at noon (loud) and the tower. We had wonderful views over the city. However, our favorite thing about the Basilica was the gargoyles. They were shaped like native fauna including frigate birds, iguanas, llamas, turtles, monkeys, caiman, anteaters, the list goes on. We only included one photo. We did not want to overwhelm you.

Tomorrow we are going to the Galapagos for a week. See ya next Monday.

Ryan & Ana

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Photos

Where in the world is Ana Cecilia?
Try humming along to the Carmen San Diego theme song.