Cheesy sweetcorn and purple vegetables
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2007
1
7
19
Trip End
Oct 23, 2007
Otavalo,
Ecuador
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Anyway we wandered around the market trying on various ponchos and trying to haggle down the prices as much as possible. I successfully bought a llama patterned poncho and hat so I was sorted. I also got the nicest corn on the cob, dipped in mayonnaise and then covered in cheese. It sounds bizarre but itīs really nice. Theyīre big cheese fans in Ecuador, although there does seem to be only 2 varieties which are both a bit mild but hey at least they have cheese here
Otavalo chaos
.Ben got some interesting fried stuff which appeared to consist of potatoes and a variety of meat, which mostly looked like kidneys and intestines so I declined to try it although he reckoned it was delicious. And I got some pineapple on a stick which is one of my favourite things ever.
I foolishly went into an art shop on the way out and fell in love with a huge painting of 2 toucans. I probably didnīt haggle for it enough but I feel bad haggling for art when I know how much time and effort goes into creating it. I ended up with it for $75 which is a fraction of the 3000 pound painting I fell in love with in Clapham but couldnīt justify buying.
It started to piss down so we took that as a signal to leave and hopped on the next bus back to Quito, with Stuart constantly asking "Are we there yet?" and the rest of us pretending to be asleep. A local girl who was sat behind the boys handed over a chocolate bar and note with her phone number as she disembarked, and although Stuart claims she gave it to him, Ben reckoned she put it in his lap and Stuart stole it.
I headed off to Bellavista Cloudforest Reserve the following day, and actually made in there on the first attempt cos I had arranged a transfer rather than try and negotiate a local bus again
Antiques
. The 4 English oldies that we picked up barely said 2 words to me and when we arrived it appeared almost everyone except me was well past retirement age and major bird fanatics. donīt get me wrong, I like birds, and it was good to see hummingbirds up close but after a day I was more excited to see a squirrel than another bird. The bird snobs all kept to themselves at dinner and the only people who talked to me were an Aussie guy and his Dad. We debated the love hate relationship between Sydney and Melbourne (they were from Sydney and Iīm more of a Melbourne fan) and who Andrew could try and get to wear his famous "Viral Waistcoat" that he was taking round the world for people to sign and have their photo taken wearing. Iīm not sure how the idea originally cropped up but the waistcoat even has itīs own facebook page.At least at the reserve we got fed well, with 3 course meals for both lunch and dinner. It was usually relatively normal food until one dinner consisted of various vegetables in a purple sort of sweet and sour sauce, accompanied by potatoes and cheese. Considering I like all of the above I wasnīt complaining and although it was a weird combination I quite liked it, which is more than could be said for the bird snobs who barely touched it.
I did a couple of walks through the cloudforest, including a bird watch that started at 6am and where we didnīt really see anything. But although it was a beautiful place, I donīt think Iīll ever be a bird fanatic. Bring on more squirrels.
Comments
viral waistcoat
Andrew from Australia here... The creator of the waistcoat found your blog entry while searching and sent it to me.
I loved the hummingbirds and Toucans, but I'm with you on being a bird fanatic - I think it's a post retirement thing... beautiful and peaceful place though!
for further viral waistcoat info see:
http://viralwaistcoat.wordpress.com/