Coraza Otavalo

... clothing, but most that we saw were actually just wearing jeans! I spent most of the morning in the crafts one, it was like a maze; we would find one stall to come back to later after checking prices at other stalls, and then take about 20 minutes to find it again! I left Ben watching the rugby while I had my first shopping spree in 2 months :) The market was so colourful too, selling jewelery, alpaca ...

... alpaca jumper, scrafe and lots of food to eat on the way.<br><br>After a very hot and busy morning I decided to head to a local waterful near the cottages...a really nice walk, however on the way back the weather turned so quickly and I was stuck in a massive storm with hail! I found a little shelter under a tree near a farm house which really wasnt doing a thing! However next thing I know the lady from the farm house came out to rescue me! I sat with her and ...

... Melbourne who we had previously met in San Crispin in Colombia. He told us of a good hostel two blocks away which was useful because I wasn&#8217;t sure if we had rooms at the hostel we had tried to reserve yesterday, and that was 4kms out of town. We found a phone kiosk and called, my hopes were confirmed they had given our room to someone else so it was good that we could stay somewhere local.<br><br>The hostel was called "Rincon de Viajares". Our room cost $36 including breakfast, a ...

... and is very flexible and very strong. They make many things with it, the only thing I could understand was shoes. Very hard labour though and very time consuming, I certainly didn´t see any of these shoes at the markets yesterday. <br><br>Afterwards was another hike for a couple of hours straight up hill to see the crater Lake Cuicachi. The lake was pretty, we went out on a boat ride on it... again nothing much more to say. The best part of this experience was ...

... here so far, although more are in the process of being built. They are, for the most part, owned by ex-pats from the US and Europe, so it's a community of English-speakers, most of whom are at least trying to learn Spanish. The homes are beautiful, built of adobe brick and concrete, and quite expensive for this area. Our house is a 3-bedroom, 3 bath, with a very nice great-room/kitchen combination. The kitchen here was designed by people who have never cooked, although ...

... architecture and majestic cathedrals that gave the city its character.<br><br>The next morning, we headed off to Cotacachi, which is a pueblo known for leather goods. From Cotocachi, our plan was to see the beautiful Laguna Quicocha, contained in the Volcano Cotocachi, an active volcano that has not erupted for 3,000 years (phew, thank goodness). A taxi driver offered to take us to the laguna for $5 one way. Okay, there was no one else around, so we ...

... the weeds got a little thicker, but we pressed on. Andy saw what he thought was &#8220;definitely a trail,&#8221; and we kept going counterclockwise around the lake. The long grass became more and more tree studded and Eric and I passed a decent sized hole in the ground. We scooted past it quickly, wondering if it was a coyote/wolf den. There were signs that marked that wolves were among the protected species of the park area, so a wolf den seemed like a realistic ...

... to be deterred from our celebratory plans, we climbed back into the police truck and were escorted to the house, where we finished the preparations for our fiesta and waited as the rest of the family members slowly trickled down the mountain to our doorstep. Once we had reached critical mass, we commenced with an afternoon of food, music, reminiscing about past visits and discussing future travels. Despite the disturbing start to the day, the fiesta turned out ...

Here in the northern highlands of Ecuador, Otavalo is lovely town filled with traditionally dressed indigenous people. I am amazed that the people living here have remained so traditional throughout the years. It is truly amazing and I love it up here! The men keep their hair in long pigtails down their back, sometimes in a beautiful braid- they wear capri length white pants, rope sandals, panchos in muted, soft colors and dark ...

... their behaviour with a fat line of cocaine.<br> <br> Thankfully, in reality Latinos are a different breed.<br> <br> Their kindness and willingness to help in whatever situation (regardless of how white, hairy and grotesque) is almost unfathomable to me. A far cry from the Hollywood stereotype of the drug dealing, violent Latino gangster.<br> <br> It is thanks to this kindheartedness that I can now say that I am footloose and abscess free (casi).