Otavalo & Cotacachi (now with photos)

Feb 28. 7:24 pm Otavalo

When I posted last night, it had just started to rain as we were about the leave the Brownie restaurant. We made it home mostly undrenched, it wasn't as bad as the previous race home through the torrent. But that night, it was the worst rain yet. It was so loud on our roof in our attic, we couldn't hold a conversation without shouting. The roof started to leak even more than usual and I had to move my bed. And again, we were trapped without dinner so we ate the last of our instant oatmeal and Skor chocolate balls. Did I mention that my 'water resistant' jacket is no match for Ecuadorian weather. It basically gave up the ghost after the first massive raindrop hit it. Everyone here wears those plastic garbage bag-like ponchos. That is what I am going to buy as soon as I see one.

Another early morning. The morning bus out of Mindo leaves at 6:30 am. And since we had to backtrack to Quito to get to Otavalo, we didn't want to wait until the afternoon bus at 1:45. The bus transfer business went well. The taxi between stations was cheap and the Otavalo bus left almost as soon as we arrived. Two hour ride (during which Val bought mystery food in a sealed paper bag for a buck, which turned out the be not very good cookies) and we were here before noon. We are staying at the Recidencia Del Rocio for $6 each per night. Our cheapest room yet. It was so cheap, Val forgot to haggle.

 

The fairly unexciting courtyard outside of our Otavalo room

And, this room has the best lighting so far. Have a I mentioned the lighting in our other rooms. In Quito they had a 4 watt bulb hanging from the ceiling encased in a tightly woven green wicker ball. We wore headlamps the whole time. In Mindo, there were so many bugs that we had to use a yellow bulb which did not even come close to illuminating the corners of the room or even the beds. It was fine in the day because of all the windows but reading (even in the day) required headlamps again (even at the risk of moth attacks to the face). But here, we have light, glorious light. Which is especially important because I started reading The Hunger Games last night. I considered going straight to my book, blog be damned tonight. But, duty calls.

Otavalo is nice. It is the perfect size. The shopping area is about 10 square blocks, which we can handle. And there is an awesome market. But first we had lunch. Another Menu del Dia (lunch special) for $2.50. This time it was creamy quinoa and chicken (I think) soup, followed by grilled chicken (cooked on a BBQ) with rice and coleslaw. Accompanied by fresh pineapple juice for me, mango juice for Val. Best deal ever. Ironically the Nescafe instant coffee was half the price of the entire rest of the meal.

Otavalo:

There's always a church and I always have to take a picture of it.



They have the coolest lamp posts.  More below.

Then we wandered around, checking out stores until we reached the market. This is more than I can stand. The stuff is incredible. And cheap. I could have rolled myself up into 50 alpaca blankets and just mailed myself home. But I did not. I bought a couple of hats and a bit of jewellery. And a painting (of course). Val bought herself hand knitted, soft soft soft, alpaca socks for $3!!! I spent the whole time trying to figure out how I could carry everything I wanted (did I mention the blankets!). I think (or at least Val thinks and says over and over) that I will just have to wait according to our original plan and buy everything (else) in Quito before we leave. (haha, even I know that plan isn't going to work, but let's all pretend together).

Some people of Otavalo (tell me these kids aren't adorable - go ahead and try)



This is the lady we bought our bread from.

 

On our way back to our room, we bought some buns at the market and cheese and jam at the grocery store. and then made sandwiches for dinner. We are getting very lazy about dinner. Now, I am going back to my book and find out what is going to happen to Katniss.

Feb 29, 2012 4:50 pm Otavalo.

 Happy Leap Day! Leap years are good at the best of time because I always feel like I am getting an extra free day tacked on. But a free day in Ecuador is even better.

This morning we got to sleep in until 8am. So nice. The room was quiet, no car alarms, no rain storms. Just a few barky dogs in the evening and a distant rooster in the morning. By the time we got up, dressed and ready to go, it was almost 9. We headed to the bus station to go to Cotacachi, north of Otavalo. Bus ride: 45 minutes, 25 cents!

We are getting more into the 'country' now and the locals' clothes reflect this. The (traditional) women wear long black skirts over white cotton slips and colourfully embroidered white blouses. All held together with a vibrant woven belt. Some women wear cloth wrapped around their head. Others wear a square of cloth under their left arm and pinned over their right shoulder. It doesn't seem to have any purpose except for perhaps modesty. Lots of the women have babies (unbelievably adorable) tied to their backs in the most ingenious way. We watched one women fling her baby onto her back as she bent at the waist, then quickly wrap a cotton cloth around the baby, over the mother and then tied under the baby's bum at the back. The whole procedure took 5 seconds and seems quite sturdy. The men braid their hair and wear white pants. Everyone in traditional clothes wear the most uncomfortable looking shoes. 

We reached Cotacachi around 9:30 and immediately found a coffee place. We are spending more on coffee than on transportation. By 10, the shops started to open. This town is known for its leather works. Shops and shops of bags. Now, I personally don't have a problem with a bag addiction but Val... - again I got the 'you have to carry anything you buy' lecture. So, I didn't buy an awesome, unbelievably soft, lovely purse. But I may have bought a wallet or two (or five - Christmas is coming).

Cotacachi:

 



Once I knew we couldn't buy/carry anymore, we flagged a cab to take us to the Laguna Cuicocha which is 12 km out of town. It is a volcano crater (caldera) with three islands in the middle from the volcanic domes. We ate lunch at a restaurant there. Val had avocado stuffed with chicken and potato cheese soup. I had cheese empanadas (again, they are so good) and avocado stuffed with shrimp. We sat overlooking the beautiful lake and tried to ID a swallow (brown backed I think). A quick wander (this time it was Val who bought something -small of course) through the market. Then we just walked up the road and found a few birds. Most notable a scarlet breasted mountain-tanager that had red and blue patches. Pretty. Val had a conversation with some sort of ground bird. She not only has an ear for human languages, she is an excellent bird call mimic. The bird whisperer. It never came out of the bushes though so I guess her whispering needs a bit of work. Val blames her accent.

Laguna Cuicocha:



This is the restaurant where we ate lunch



This shows the three peaks (look closely) and the little boat that goes around the islands (we didn't take the boat trip)

Here we are enjoying our lunch and walk at Laguna Cuicocha:

Coffee, sweet, sweet coffee.



Our lunch, Chicken stuffed avocado in the back, Empanadas in the front.



Val rock climbing



Val looking for the ground bird.

Our taxi came back and picked us up after 3 hours and took us to the bus station. Back to Otavalo by 5pm or so. Now we are at a restaurant because they have Wi-Fi. We ordered something called Ecuadorian snack plate. It came with lima beans, rehydrated peas, various takes on corn, and chicharrones - fried pig fat. Sounds vile but it was pretty good (except for the lima beans). Plus a beer. However, as it turns out the Wi-Fi is not working so this will have to wait to get posted. We head back to Quito tomorrow for one night before we head south.

The Ecuadorian Snack Plate.  From the top clockwise: Corn, lima beans, peas, corn, corn, pork fat in the middle.

March 1. 1:36 Quito

Not too much today. We returned to Quito for tonight so that we could scout out a place for our last weekend and to talk to Sonia. As I mentioned earlier (I think), we can't buy our bus tickets to Lago Agrio this far ahead but apparently, it is a popular bus. We wanted to ask Sonia if she would pick up the tickets for us. Plus, she had mentioned that we could leave a bag at the Travel Agency.

We arrived in Quito around 11 am. We had planned to find a place in Old Town but we talked ourselves back into Mariscal. Close to Sonia, close to the market. Plus, other travellers have mentioned that there are no restaurants or much of anything open past 5 pm in Old Town. So we are back in Gringolandia. We found a different Hostel which is a block or two back from 'party' street. But it is grungy. But, for the first time, we have a private bathroom. and only for $11 a night. It is called Hostel something Alta. The sketchy one on Wilson street if we go missing. Look for the cow head in the stairwell.

Once we dropped our bags (thankfully - they are getting even worse with our (my) purchases), we set out to find Sonia's travel agency. Val, who is the navigator for this crew (no shock to anyone who knows my sense of direction) found it no problem. Sonia wasn't in but her assistant (?) Doris was willing to buy the bus tickets for us and to keep our bag of trinkets until we return. We have to pick up the tickets between returning from Galapagos and heading to the Amazon tour. But that is good because I am sure we (I) will have more stuff bought by then.

So, mission accomplished, we are now in a restaurant on the square in the heart of Gringolandia. We just tried another Ecuadorian snack plate. This one was less 'traditional'. It included coconut coated shrimp, cheese and chicken empanadas, some sort of meat turnover, crab cakes, four types of dip and potatoes in cheese sauce. Val ate the potatoes. It was particularly tasty but the location puts it out of our price range except for the very rare treat. Plus 2 for 1 beer helped us decide to splurge.

Wi-Fi here works so I am going to post this now. Next stop, Ambato tomorrow morning.

BTW - I finished the Hunger Games last night. Someone send me the electronic version of Book 2! I can't wait until I get home.