Advertisement
Published: November 6th 2005
Yes, we did it, as you can see from the title. But we´ll get there in a minute.
We left Mindo, and made our way to Cayambe, a town north of Quito, on the way to Otavalo. We found out about a hacienda we could stay at outside of Cayambe, and tried our luck without a reservation. Luckily, they had an open room. It´s a splurge for the trip at $35 a night, but it was worth it. The Hacienda Guachala was built in 1580, and has hosted many dignitaries and presidents in its time. It became a hotel in the 1990s for the public. Our room had its own fireplace, and walls that were about 3 feet thick. It had its own restaurant and we were able to charge everything - bonus! It was a really neat place to stay, as you can see from the photos.
Saturday morning we got up early and went to Otavalo, a town famous for its Saturday market. We wanted to get there early as that´s when the animal market takes place. Lots of cows, horses, and lots and lots of pigs squealing their lungs out. It was interesting, and we stayed
Baby for sale
This baby´s mother just went away for about 10 seconds when we took this picture. She jokingly offered to sell her baby for $1.for a bit, but we had other shopping to do.
Otavalo is insane on Saturday. Blocks and blocks and blocks of vendors selling things, from clothing to weaves to fruits and vegetables. We shopped til we dropped, almost literally - great for Christmas presents! We´re experts at bartering now - we may even try it back home.
Had a little adventure on our way back to our Hacienda - got on the wrong bus, and went a 1/2 hour out of the way before we realized what was going on. But, it worked out, and 3 bus rides later, and a 2k walk, we were home, and ready for dinner - Cuy! (p.s. don´t blame me - Paul ordered it 😊 It tasted alright - pretty much just dark meat - Paul says it tasted like chicken. The worst part about it was the whole animal sitting on the plate staring at you with its teeth sticking out. I had trout 😊
Today we had a leisurely morning, walking around the grounds of the hacienda, then took an hour horseback ride where I learned a little about trotting. Luckily an hour wasn´t long enough to make us
Hacienda Guachala
This picture is just outside our room. Taken in black and white with our cool new camera. sore. Took a bus back to Quito, where we are now, getting ready for our Amazon trip tomorrow. We´re coming back from that on Friday. Pretty sure there won´t be internet access out there, so we´ll see if we get a chance to do another blog before we come back home.
In answer to Dawn´s question about internet access, it´s amazing- it´s everywhere! Even in a tiny town where we stayed called Alausi. I´m sure they don´t have it in the more remote areas, but so far we´ve found it everywhere. The other interesting thing is that everyone here also have cell phones - even some indigenous. Really didn´t expect that.
Well, hopefully we´ll have some great pictures from the Amazon - see you all soon!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0389s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Uncle G
non-member comment
Another great story!
What an adventure! The Guinea pig looked yummy (YUK!). All is well on the home front. Holler when you get back.