Stunning scenery in the northern highlands
Trip Start
Mar 18, 2007
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Trip End
Mar 16, 2008
Otavalo, Ecuador
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Continuing on from the last entry, after arriving at La Luna we arranged for a taxi tour the following day (between Tom, Arend and I) and we first set off to Laguna de Cuicocha, a beautiful lagoon some 3km wide and 200m deep set in a collapsed volcanic crater, in the lagoon there are two islands formed by later eruptions. We took a boat tour, which gave some great views and the water was crystal clear (no fish though, dad).
After this we headed to Cotacachi, know as the city of peace. The town is famous for its leatherwork and with a quick walk down the high street it is easy to see why as almost every shop sells some kind of leather work from exquisite jackets and handbags to saddles and bridles for horses.
After a tasty lunch we were on the road again, this time to Peguche a small weaving village
Cascada de Peguche
. Here we were able to observe the amount of hard work that goes into making the fabulous tapestries the area is famous for, a large tapestry can take up to a month of skilled work to complete. From Peguche we took a short walk to Cascada de Peguche, a pretty waterfall just outside the village.After all of that it was back to the hostal for some good food, and a night infront of the toasty fire.
The following day we took a hike around the Lagunas de Mojanda (along with Phillipe, a Belgian staying at the hostel..it was only the 4 of us there), the 3 lagoons are at 3600m and on a clear day, apparently you can see some of the mountains in Colombia. Unfortunately it was slightly cloudy, but the scenery was still superb. As an extra bonus we saw a pair of huge condors circling above our heads, words can't really describe how amazing that was.
Today we took a look around the market in Otavalo which was full of fabulous crafts, unfortunately I had to hold back and think of my already full rucksac! On a saturday this is one of the biggest markets in the country and is on the itinerary of many tours, however there is still plenty to see whatever day you go.
Then it was back to Quito, and counting the days to the start of our Galapagos tour!
The next blog may be a while away as the internet on the islands is rumoured not to be too brilliant and we only dock on the main island for a day, however hopefully it will be worth the wait.
Bye for now!
