Casa Mojanda Otavalo

... terminal for buses to Otavalo! Of course we took the taxi option, having been warned that it is a very dangerous city... <br><br>Another 2 hours and we had made it to Otavalo. Otavalo is famous for its markets, especially on Saturday when they most popular. The biggest market is the "artesanias" or crafts, but there are also two livestock markets and a local produce one. We read that all the vendors wore bright ...

... eye opening experience I needed to escape to the food and craft markets. These were definatey more my thing. The markets stretch for streets and streets around the towns main square. It was such an amazing atmosphere, lots of music and people shouting out what deals they had on offer. I strolled through looking at each stall chatting to the locals. I set myself a budget of $50 and managed to stick to it. I bought 3 fabulous little painting, some jewllery, a very ...

... delight. <br><br>We plonked our bags down in a suitable place and left Jody and Niamh to look after them as we strode briefly around the market. Jody and Niamh had been practicing juggling with some balls I had bought earlier in our travels, Jody was getting pretty good at it. Christie went mad and bought several items, although I have to say they were really nice hand made garments. We spent around $100, which is well beyond what we normally spend. We also bumped into an aussie ...

... find the cute little guinea pigs that were soon to become our lunch... they had about 4 or 5 in the hutches at this time, black and brown ones. I got the impression they eat them occassionally.<br><br>After breakfast one of the dancing guys came to show us some traditional Quechua crafts, how they spin wool from alpacas and then how they do the traditional weaving. Also how they get a kind of straw from a plant similar to aloe vera. The straw is sort of like a ...

... and shellfish - and it's sitting there in the open for you to choose, without benefit of styrofoam trays or plastic wrap. We've shopped with the produce ladies and the grocery people, but I'm not yet brave enough to buy the meat! This has to be one of the most interesting bus terminals in the world!<br><br>We've found a lovely house to rent while we're here, in the San Miguel neighborhood. This is a fairly small, gated development - there are only about 25 or so ...

... 8220;Let&#8217;s hurry,&#8221; she said, and we quickly flagged down the nearest taxi coming towards us. <br><br>We ended up staying at Residencial Madrid, which was within the center of the town. &#8220;This is so much better,&#8221; I said, when we settled into our room. I was thankful that we wouldn&#8217;t have to sleep with our eyes open that night. We wandered the Ibarra streets that night, taking in the peacefulness of the city, and delighting in the ...

... to bed not long after the sun went down. Going to bed with the sunset is actually kind of nice as you get up with the sunrise. After a quick breakfast, we continued heading around the lake in the direction that we had started yesterday. The map that we saw initially looked like the trail went all the way around. <br><br>We arrived at the actual campsite probably only 20 minutes after setting off that morning. Oh well. We kept moving on. The trail got a little thinner ...

... awaited with his wife and son, we discovered that there were no doctors available on Sunday... apparently injury is prohibited on the holy day. We climbed back into the truck, now with 3 additions, and drove to a nearby clinic, which was also closed, but luckily had a number for an on call x-ray tech. Luckily, the x-ray showed no fracture, and my mother was able to bear weight and move her foot freely. Now with half of our Ecuadorian friends accompanying, and ...

... fast fünf Stunden kamen wir wieder an eine ziemlich einsame Strasse. Es wurde mittlerweile langsam dunkel und kalt und wir hatten nicht mehr wirklich Lust noch weit zu laufen... Zu unserem grossen Glück kam nach kurzer zeit ein Jeep vorbei, der uns bis an die Landstrasse nach Cotacachi mitgenommen hat. So kamen wir dann also fix und fertig wieder nach Otavalo zurück, von wo aus es am nächsten Tage weiterging. Zurück nach Kolumbien...