Pinsaqui Otavalo

... leave the hotels.

The Ipiales market was not big, about a dozen stalls, some traders in traditional clothing, some selling fruits, a few selling clothes which included some hand-made traditional clothes, and at very reasonable prices. Christie bought some small clothing gifts to send back to Oz. At this point we also decided we would go along to a nearby church that spans a gorge about 7km away, so we hailed a taxi. The taxi to the Santuario de Lajas, which normally costs $8 ...

... the punch you got for free when you got back from the boatride because it was a little chilly out on the water. It was sort of a berry fruit punch served in tiny styrafoam cups not much bigger than a shot glass... but they also give you a bottle of Ouzo (or some other local alcohol) and you are free to add as much as you want to spice up your drink. I thought this was great!

On return from the lake it was time for the Cuy (the guinea pig)... it was ...

... of about 50) where we buy our freshly-baked bread and dulces (sweets). A couple of days ago I bought two wonderful breads shaped like croissants but baked with cheese, and paid .12 each for them. Cream horns filled with lemon curd and topped with chocolate are a bit more expensive - .25 each. There's every kind of bread imaginable just waiting to be taken home, and it's all amazingly inexpensive. We buy produce at the bus terminal, of course, but there are a bunch of ...

... that I was accessing my account from a foreign computer and sent me through my security questions-which I had forgotten. We have moved so much I had no idea as to what phone number or address was saved. It took me two hours to figure out how to transfer money from my savings to checking account and pay the lousy bill.

We had to make a phone call to clear everything up with the credit card company. This simple call ended in a brief chat with the police ...

... someone said "cuidado el carro" and I looked back to see it nearly upon us. I moved to push my parents forward, and at that moment, my mother started screaming and fell to the ground. I looked down and saw her foot trapped beneath the tire, and began screaming as well. The girl driving, apparently, fled at the moment of impact, and so we were left for a few terrible moments, screaming for the car to back up so we could free my mother´s foot. The rest was part ...

... 6 years ago with my first trip to Ecuador, and which have now grown to include my family, their friends, friends of friends... This morning I woke up and took a taxi to a daycare center in another small village, where my mother works with a little boy named Steven, who has cerebral palsy. Steven was thrilled with his new clothing, and even more thrilled with his new toy bus! After my mother my mother was done stretching his very spastic little limbs, we went out to ...

Before I came to Latin America I set myself three goals:

1. To see and do some cool ****.

2. Try my best to make a difference in the lives of the niños.

3. Have a great big, **** off puss and blood filled abscess cut out of my throat.

And now my friends, with great pride I can say mission accomplished.

My first week in sunny/cloudy/hot/cold Ecuador was marred only by the fact that I had, what I thought ...

... markten zoals ik ze weleens in Azie heb gezien. Vanmiddag ben ik met de taxi naar Parque Condor geweest. Een roofvogelpark op ca. 5 kilometer van Otovalo. Hier zijn verschillende roofvogels te zien, waaronder arenden, uilen en condors. Eén van de condors strekte even zijn vleugels en dat was toch wel erg groot. Een Nederlander is daar directeur en het project wordt mede ondersteund met geld van de postcodeloterij. Ik kwam trouwens net voorbij ...