Jatun Pacha Hostel Otavalo

Back in Quito after 4 amazing days in Otavalo and surrounding areas. The bus from Quito just costing $2 each way for a 2 hour journey. The best $4 I have spent so far...<br><br>I stayed in the most fabulous and cheapest accomodation I have every stayed in (a big call!). It was called Roses Cottages. The cottages are set up in the mountains over looking the town the view was stunning. It was owned and opporated by a lady called Rose, she is Ecuadorian, and married a ...

... to pay anything, it is free he told us. He waited and kept the sharks at bay whilst we went up to get our passports stamped. It took about 5 minutes while the immigration officer checked his computer against our id&#8217;s, stamped the passports and we returned to our waiting taxi. He took us the additional 100 metres across a bridge, overtaking a line of traffic before doing a u-turn at the other end of the bridge and pointing to an office where we had to check in. We thanked ...

... fertile soil which, seemingly, will grow anything. Driving through this area you find your head on a swivel, not knowing which way to look and afraid you'll miss something.<br><br>The drive was long but fairly uneventful, if you discount the fact that we went downhill at the speed of light and uphill at the speed of an arthritic tortoise. Our little van coasted downward with merry abandon, but clucked its disapproval on every uphill stretch, of whilch there ...

... table runner and matching napkins we decided to call it a day. As we began the walk back to our hostel the sky opened up and people began scrambling to get umbrellas and to the the wool under cover. I felt so bad for them! Such a big day that so many people probably anticipate and need to make their living; I hope the rain stopped for them later. I would guess with so many people busing in from Quito just for the market they ...

... he would give us a ride to town for a dollar a piece. We said we&#8217;d walk. An hour later we were kind of regretting that. We got lucky though as maybe 20 more minutes later another truck passed and the driver just said he was headed to town and we were free to jump in back and catch a ride if we wanted. We thanked him and hopped in. <br><br>From Quiroga, we took another twenty cent bus to Otavalo. Aden led the way to a great pizza place and we grabbed dinner ...

... to bargan for everything for example I bought a water colour painting of a beautiful girl, the guy initially said $65 but my Auntie got him to $40. I wont tell you what else I bought because they may be gifts for you! At lunch time we went to a pie shop bought a lemon and blackberry one. Then we caught a bus to my Auntie´s friends place in Cotacachi. She is japanese and her husband is Indigeous, they have a four year old daughter who speaks Spanish, Japnese ...

... I keep all my valuables in a smaller day bag that I always keep close to my person, so the thieves did not actually take anything, but they did slash open my main bag. Later, in Otavalo, I discovered the gaping hole and stitched it up with dental floss! Yay for dental hygiene! I arrived in Otavalo, renowned for its Saturday market, with a small group of other travelers from Quito. The bus dropped us off on the highway, so we all ventured toward the city together ...

... my friends it tastes like a hard boiled Easter egg left on the kitchen table until about Wednesday that you ill advisedly eat when you find that nothing else is availible.<br> <br> ¡Que delicioso!<br> <br> But sill the unpleasantness didn´t end.<br> <br> To ensure the infection didn´t reappear or worse still, spread to other parts of my body, I was prescribed a whole pharmacy´s worth of anti-biotics, pain killers, gargling salts and ...

... agreed to give us $10s. Later in the day we also cashed some traveler's checks at a casa de cambio, which, just as it had in Quito, worked fine. Our next task for the day was shopping at the market, which we happily did for a few hours before and after lunch. We bought a sample of just about everything the market had to offer.... alpaca blankets, shawls, and scarves, wool rugs and some jewelry. JJ bought a panama hat ...