Market Adventure: Otavalo

      This past weekend Johnny and I went to one of the largest (if not THE largest) market in South America. The market in Otavalo is about a 2 hour bus ride from Quito and sells stuff every day of the week. Saturday is the biggest market day and vendors are selling stuff in all the side streets as well as the market. (When I say stuff I mean anything and everything... meats, shrunken heads, bags, food, blankets, hats, chickens...)
      Since we knew Saturday was going to be busy, John and I opted to go up to Otavalo early on Friday morning (we had Friday off from work). We took a $2.00 bus right into the small town (a nice man on the bus even let me have the window seat after I told him I would vomit if I didn't have a window... not exactly true, I just like the views). Once we arrived we immediately got something to eat. We decided on a sack of rice, potatoes, fried pork (for John) and I think a hard boiled egg (for me) along with some amazing ahí (homemade hot sauce). Feeling better, we wandered around the city in search of a place to spend the night. We ended up in a cute hostel (Los Andes) right on the same corner as the main market for $15 a night (we got the married person rate). Since the main market was still a day away, we decided to wander around the hills near by and search for the magic tree called El Lechero. According to the guide book, El Lechero was only a 4 km walk uphill, past some Eucalyptus trees and supposedly really easy to pick out.  Wrong! It was not easy to spot.  We had just made it past the Eucalyptus grove when a white van pulled up next to us and offered a ride. Mind you, we were in the middle of no where on the side of a hill with no one else around... so we got in the van : ) The family turned out to be really nice, however they had never heard of the tree and didn't know where to find it. Once we got to where the family was headed we said our goodbyes and decided to climb a small hill nearby to see what we could see. Thank goodness for John's amazing eyes! He saw the little stubby tree all alone on a hill in the distance.  The tree was unlike any other tree in the area and indeed was on top of the hill (although NOT easy to spot from the Eucalyptus trees). At the tree we took in views of the near by Volcan Imbabura, some smelly/nasty sheep and the San Pablo lake.  It was a really cool spot and I am glad that we found it. While we were making our trek back into town, wouldn't you know that the same white van passed us again and offered a ride. The driver just kept driving and finally John had to ask the man to stop to let us out... we think he would have just kept driving until he got home or something. Silly van. After the walk back to the hotel and a quick shower we set off for dinner and dessert. We found dinner at the original pizza place in Otavalo...amazing Vegetarian Pizza ($6.80 - medium). Then, we went in search of pie! We each ordered a slice, me - raspberry and John - Strawberry. We ended up switching halfway though because he liked mine more and I liked his. First day... over.
    In the morning we woke up at 6 and walked to the animal market which was about 1 km from town. Along the way we saw all the street vendors getting ready for the day a head. There were so many more people today... covering the streets instead of just the city block the day before. At the animal market we saw all sorts of animals for sale: cows, llamas, sheep, chickens, guinea pig, kittens, dogs, pigs and other things. The small animals like cats and g. pigs were just kept in sacks. Kind of sad. After having my fill of animal stink we walked back to town and grabbed breakfast at the food market. John ordered this rice and noodle thing that came with blood. When the lady asked him if he wanted blood he excitedly said "Yes!". I tried to eat the noodles but the blood (which was baked? not liquid or anything) was everywhere. After the bloodfest we got empenadas and a hot raspberry drink called Chola de Mora. Yummy. Time to wander the streets of crap... You would not believe how much stuff people were trying to sell.  We saw many pretty shirts, blankets, jewelry and so much more. I was initially looking for a neat woven head band and a small over the shoulder bag. I guess you can call me a picky shopper because I didn't see anything that I liked and after it was all said and done the only thing we bought was a little tub of honey for $1. I saw a lot of things that reminded me of people back home... especially my sister. I could have easily bought one of everything for her because I know that she would have loved everything (except the shrunken heads). Feeling content with what we had seen we decided to take the late morning bus back to Quito. We would gladly return to Otavalo with anyone who visits us and wants to go : )

(Johnny talks about the Mountain)
Sunday morning, I woke up at 3:45 to meet my co-worker Jaime to go climb a nearby mountain called Las Puntas.  Jaime was supposed to bring his dog so Amber could take care of it while we went hiking, but the dog got into the trash the night before and was to sick to play.   Disappointed, Amber went back to bed and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

The last mile of road before the beginning of the trail was too rough, so all 12 of us had to switch cars and ride in the back of a pickup truck.  The trail starts at a hacienda, which is like a farm with a few families living together.  From there, we picked up a dog that wanted food and she ended up following us the whole way up the mountain.  Halfway up the hike, we hit a road block of about 40 cows.  They were thirsty and all crowded around the gait we needed to get through.  We just walked through them, some with sticks in their hands, and they left us alone.   The dog was protecting us too.  We then got to the rocks and it was really windy and kind of cold but beautiful.  Our guide led us around some easy rock climbing sections.  At one point the dog could not continue and she cried to come with us.  Our guide went back and somehow climbed around the rocks with the dog.  Our highest point lead us up a 40ft easy rock climb, but a little nerve wracking because we did not use ropes.  It could be compared to climbing up a tall, irregular ladder.  We then rappelled from the top.  We rappelled from a few other rocks and then practiced climbing some more difficult sections.  This time we did use ropes.  By this time, everybody was tired and we started back down.  On the drive back, we stopped at a place along the road and drank morochos , which is a hot drink made with blended corn, milk and spices like anise and allspice.  We also ate humitas,which are like tamles, but with nothing stuffed in them, just corn.

Las Puntas 

Interesting Fact:  You know the cough drops Halls?  When we think of those, we think of something you take when you are sick.  Not true in Ecuador.  Here they are candy.  A lot of restaurants will have a bowl full of Halls next to the cash register for people to take.  Sometimes  you get them with your bill.  I've even seen a TV commercial where a guy pops one in his mouth because he wants to be refreshed and ready to go talk to some girl in a club.  Until I saw the commercial, I always wondered if the people at the Halls company thought that there was a bunch of people with sore throats in Latin America.