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Published: January 20th 2008
Hola!
I hope everyone is doing splendid....even those back in the minus temps with snow. teehee I don´t mean to rub it in but i am getting quite the tan! :P Ya, you are right....I am rubbing it in...haha The bummer part is that my noise is now burnt on the already peeled area. Shucks. Probably going to be an ongoing burn for the duration of this trip. Ah well....
Things are good here. Really good. We have been mainly hanging out on the farm and the villages near the farm the past few days. On Friday, Thomas met us in Quito at around 10pm and took us sightseeing in the Old Town. It was really neat to see the cobblestone roads and the old churches all lit up. Many are as old as the 15th century...really quite beautiful. We also took a horse carriage around to do more sightseeing which was really quite nice. Hopefully some of my pics turned it...tough to take night shots without a tripod. Did I already mention this church thing? My apologies if i did...having a déja vu. Check that....actually got the accent on the e! sweet. love spanish keyboads. teehee
So Saturday, Nicole and I had plans to go to Otovalo which is a town 2 hours north from the farm. It was recommended by many including the lonely planet book due to the big weekend market and touristy type stuff. So...that was the plan. We walked to the next village called Pifo...about a 45 min walk...in order to catch the bus to Otovalo. We then encountered some problems with our lack of spanish...time confusion, etc. and well...ended up not going. So we spent the afternoon walking around Pifo cuz they had a little market going on to. I bought a nice bag to put my camera and wallet in. It is kind of pretty now so I am going to spice it up with some dirt and duct tape and stuff so that it won´t look too impressive thus hide my camera better. I also bought some nice embroidered bracelets. I love them!! But ya...those that know me well know about my infatuation with colorful embroidered bracelets and necklaces. Sigh. One thing that bothered me at the market was some dude walking around with a box full of live chicks...coloured!! He actually dipped each one into a different colour dye and was selling them. it made me sad. I know it could be worse but it still made me sad. What is he thinking!? Grr. I saw someone buy two and he then put them in a little brown paper bag...lunch bag size....and closed it like it was produce. Poor critters. All in all....the animal treatment here has been quite good to my relief. But I know it isn´t all good and I hope to not see too much of it.
So anyhow...on with what we did....sorry, i tend to go off on a tangent whenever the welfare of animals is involved...as most of you know. Sigh.
After strolling around Pifo, we picked up some fruit and walked back to the farm. We made a good soup that night for dinner and then hit the sack early to start our day today. This morning we walked to Pifo again with our big packs this time as we have decided to head to the west coast after visiting Otovalo today. The bus situation went a bit smoother thank goodness....and we arrived in Otovalo around noon today. The market was huge and quiet which is nice. Saturday is their big day so it was quiet today with it being a Sunday. But hey...virtually all were open so it worked for us! We splurged a little. I got myself a really awesome nice sweater (Nicole got one too but a different colour), and a knit hat to hide my face a bit from the sun, and i got a really nice fancier type tank top. they were all cheap so why not. I am getting pretty good with the bartering...thanks pops....mexico has taught me well. haha I even had the guy chase me down with the hat to tell me he would accept my initial offer after I walked away. too funny.
After the market, Nicole and I found the hostel that Thomas recommended to us. Wow, it is awesome!! he said it wasn´t the cheapest but that it was the ´earth friendliest´ so we decided to keep our natural ways and go there. As soon as we walked up we saw ppl lounging in hammocks all around the courtyard with huge trees and such. It was really beautiful and warming. Our room is awesome and we are really excited to sleep in a decent bed tonight. I haven´t slept well since i got here which is rare for me...i can usually sleep most anywhere. Hoping this gets a little for me....we shall see. We are in bed by 9pm most nights and I am up as soon as the sun comes up....around 630am. Craziness. But it works....might as well make the best of our days. Big change from my night owling ways though.
After checking in, we strolled down the streets and had some lasagna for dinner and now we are at the internet cafe. Tomorrow we plan on heading to Quito first thing, picking up our packages for the Galapagos, and then catching a bus west. We haven´t quite decided where we will end up tomorrow night....it will either be in a small town that Thomas recommended...about halfway between quito and the coast. Or else we´ll just go straight to the coast since we are pressed for time. We shall see. Either way, I bet it is going to be awesome and I can´t wait to see the beaches on the west coast. I am really hoping to try out surfing....we shall see if we can pull it off! Our plan is to be back at the farm by Thurs. night or fri. morning so we are a bit pressed for time. We want to spend some quality time with Thomas there before we head to the Galapagos for Sunday morning. If only we had more time. I know we are here a while but really...it is not that long and Nicole flies out of Buenos Aires on March 25. So we still have a lot to do in Peru...then Bolivia...then Argentina. We don´t want to push things too long so that Nicole barely has the opportunity to see Argentina. So hence why we are heading out of Ecuador soon. It will be very sad to say goodbye to my friend Thomas and to this beautiful country. I am truly in love with it...just like I knew I would. Perhaps I will change my flight home from Chile to Quito and make my way back up north...who knows. We shall see!
Anyhoot, that is all to report for now. After we hit the Galapagos, we will be heading to Peru...on to the next chapter!! It will include acclimatizing in Cuzco for a good 5 days before we tackle Larres Valley Trek....a 5-6 day hike on an Inka Trail. Not THE Inka Trail cuz that is closed for the month of February....but an Inka Trail nonetheless. I have even heard it is supposed to be better cuz we go through more villages and such. I am looking forward to it!! And Machu Picchu! Wow...I can´t even begin to imagine how amazing that is going to be. Fun times ahead.....
Take care everyone. Hope yáll in the cold are managing to stay warm. Feel free to send me comments here or emails on hotmail or facebook. I love to hear from ppl and how thigns are going back home.
Ciao!
PS. i seem to be having some luck with pics right now so i just might be able to attach some here. we shall see. the unfortunate part is that i don´t have the cd with me that contains all of the pics since we got here...instead i have just the past few days. Regardless...i will try to throw some on here in some way or form and get some of the others up the next chance we have. Enjoy!!
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Buckey
non-member comment
bitterly cold
Thought I'd make you feel good....it's -31C here with a windchill of -46C! In the daytime no less.