Otavalo
Trip Start
Mar 28, 2008
1
40
98
Trip End
Mar 27, 2009
Otavalo,
Ecuador
Monday, June 2, 2008
Today we said goodbye to another member of our group - Brenda. Another emotional send off - we will miss you lots Brenda.
We then went off to Otavalo, a famous market town. Otavalo has been used as a market place since before the Incas, over 1500 years. It is situated about 2.5 hours out of Quito by public bus (yes, yet another bus journey!). Otavalo is a nice town but if you go out of season, few restaurants are open. The main market day is a Saturday but there are market stalls on other days just not as many.
We tried to resist but ended up buying 3 scarves, 2 pictures and a magnet (they were very cheap though!)
Laguna Cuiocha, a volcanic crater
. Our hotel was lovely, it had 2 double beds and free water - we notice the free things now! Fabulous compared to Misahualli. Tuesday
Whilst at Otavalo you can also visit Laguna Cuiocha, a volcanic crater. We decided to go early at 9am to get a boat ride (Julie stayed in bed because ill again!!). When we got there the place was deserted but finally we found someone who said 5 minutes for a boat ride - 35 minutes later we gave up! South American time has its own time frames!
The Laguna, however, looked very much like a lake in Scotland or the Lake District. Ecuador is very much like this as a whole.
Tonight is the last night of our tour and it was also the semi-final of a major football match. It seemed the whole of Ecuador was out! Ecuador won and there were big celebrations on the street - all the cars were beeping their horns, very annoying!
We had an early night because we were all tired from the travelling but there was also a weird atmosphere and lots of riot police!
Throughout our time in South America we have done 29 bus journeys in total, averaging 6 hours each! We´re abit tired and very sick of buses.
