New news: Moving, Festivals and Active Volcanoes

Over the past few weeks we have stayed in Quito but that doesn't mean that we didn't do anything. We decided that our current two bedroom apartment was just too big for us. John noticed that another smaller (1 bedroom) in our complex was currently free, and we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. We moved a whole 37 steps up and slightly over to the right (or left, depending on which way you want to look at it). Our new place features a nice, large, and easily accessible porch, a fire place, and vaulted ceilings. I would say that we are finally settled into the new place and like it very much. It is a bit smaller than we have been used to, but we think this is a good thing because it means that we won't be disappointed or cramped feeling if we have to live in a small place back in the states. Here are some pictures of the new place:

Dining Room/Living Rom

Kitchen

Bedroom

        A couple of weekends ago, the section of Quito we live in had its annual festival.  Know as Fiesta de Guápulo, the event lasts from Friday evening until Monday evening with few breaks in between.  The festival consists of live music, indigenous and Latin American dancing, daily parades, a down hill wooden cart derby,  street food, and large fireworks structures.  Friday night started with a very good professional Salsa band.  It was a welcome change to hear good musicians.   The local bands have not discovered the concept of playing in tune.  On Saturday morning, we woke up to loud bottle rockets starting at 5:30 and then a paraded down to the church.  The exploding rockets continued intermittently outside our window throughout the weekend.  That afternoon, we watched the cart derby.  Only about 15 people had carts, but it was still entertaining.  Later that evening, a parade with people dressed up as clowns, cowboys, and gorillas descended down the streets to the church.  Nobody told the cars coming up the hill that there was a parade coming down, so the participants just had to weave through the stopped, frustrated traffic.  

Oops, Sorry cars, but there's a parade.

The night ended with more loud music and large bamboo towers with fireworks strapped to them.  There is no regard for safety and the people watching get covered in showers of sparks.  We could watch this from the comfort of our living room thankfully.  Here's a YouTube video that shows the craziness.  We didn't take the video, but it give you an idea of what happens.  Turn your volume down first.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1m16Q4usw   During the day Sunday, there was more dancing and music.  The big event Sunday was the parade of oranges.  In addition to the usual clowns, cowboys, and gorillas, there were many pickup trucks throwing oranges to the spectators.  Johnny was really looking forward to catching some oranges, but we sadly got the start time wrong.  We saw people catching oranges from our window and realized it was too late for us.  The random bottle rockets and music continued until about 8:30, and then it was more or less over.  From what our neighbors told us, it was the most calm Fiesta de Guápulo ever.  

This past Sunday John and I (and 64 others) went with the climbing group Zona Verde to climb down into the crater of the active volcano Guagua Pichincha (pronounced Waa-waa). It means baby in the native language here. The day started with a 6 am bus ride to the road leading to the refuge. I thought that we were going to get to drive all the way up, but I was sadly mistaken. The buses dropped us off next to some cows on the side of a dirt road. We climbed under a barbed wire fence (how most of my hikes start here) and proceeded to climb straight up for the next two hours. After a small break we continued for about another 45 minutes and finally found ourselves at the refuge. It would have been much easier to drive there. 

Refuge for Guagua Pichincha.

The steep hike down

Climbing down rocks

All too soon we were being shuffled along the uphill path to the ridge that either led to the crater or to the summit. (You can kind of see the trail in the picture: lighter brown and heading away from the top of the building to the left.) Then began the hike down to the crater. There was a sort of path that we followed for some of the time, but really it was just finding your own way and making sure that the rock that you stepped on was sturdy. There were more than a few people that got scared and moved super slowly. I felt bad for John because I am pretty sure that he could have just run down the whole thing and left everyone else in the dust. He was patient and stayed with me and my short legs though. 

Smoke coming out of a vent in the volcano

Unfortunately, even after all of our efforts, neither one of made it all the way to the crater. I turned around about half way though. I had been coping with an intestinal parasite for about a week and the medication I was on made me feel like I was going to puke every other second. Added to the fact that I had not eaten a real meal since Friday afternoon, so I was feeling weak. I knew I had had enough and decided to go back with two others and a guide. John, even though he tried, did not make it all the way. He was forced to turn around with his group. We did get good views of the smoke coming out of the hole and of evidence of eruptions in the past. Some good news is that John was able to pass every other person in the group on the uphill climb and as a result he had enough time to make it to the summit. 

Photo op at the ridge

We then had to walk back down to the buses.  We decided to follow the road this time instead of taking the cow paths that we originally took up. The buses arrived in Quito around 8pm and we were safely home by 8:20. John is already planning his return trip to the crater...

Interesting fact: In America we have the "Happy Birthday" song. Everyone knows it, and everyone sings it the EXACT same way each time. Granted, sometimes a few words are interjected, but the main body of the song remains the same. Not true here in Ecuador. Seems like the song changes, not only words, but tunes and timing too, every single time we sing it. Even the locals comment on how the song is not consistent. As a result we end up singing whichever version the loudest singer of the group decides on for the day and usually the first verse is a jumbled mess. 

Suá and One Year Engagement

This past Saturday, September 1st, marked one year since getting engaged, so we decided to celebrate by going to the beach.  It's the first time we've been to the ocean since arriving in Ecuador.  The closest beach from Quito is to the north about 5 hours away.  Specifically we chose Suá, because the description sounded calmer and like less of a party beach than nearby Atacames.  To maximize our time there, we took an overnight bus Friday night.  When we bought our bus tickets, we were suprised to hear they were twice as much as we expected to pay.  Normally, the fare is about 1 dollar per hour of driving.  We were not thrilled with paying 10 dollars each for a 5 hour bus ride, but I'm sure it is more expensive because there is a higher demand to go to the beach.  Ecuador's prices reflect the best or worst of capitalism.  Very few prices are fixed, and if there is the slight hint of a demand the prices will rise.  Another example, any store near an expensive hotel will charge more for the exact same things offered elsewhere, just because they know the people staying at the hotel will pay for it.  Anyway, we arrived in Atacames about a hour before daylight, and waited in the station until it got brighter to find the local bus to Suá.  After being dropped off in Suá, we proceeded to wander to the beach.  Once it got a bit later in the morning, we chose to get breakfast at restaurant which was really just some tables and a covering.  They served us fried fish, rice, coffee, and a bolón with cheese.  It was good, but when we asked how much we owed after we ate, she said 7 dollars.  We broke a cardinal rule.  Always ask the price before buying.  This type of breakfast is normally about $1.50 to $2.50, but $3.50 is unheard of.  I regret not arguing with her, because I´m certain we only paid that much because she thought she could get away with it.  It's fairly common, especially for touristy looking people (white people) for vendors to say a higher price, knowing that you either don't know the real price, or you won't argue with them about out.  I generally reject over priced things here, even by as little as 5 cents, on principle.  It happens less in areas that don't see many tourists.

Place we ate breakfast

                                 
After breakfast, we just bummed around town and then went back to the beach.  The tide was going out, which gave us a chance to walk along the rocky coast line on the north and south of the main beach area.  This part of the beach was really pretty and the rocks were fun to climb on.  It also wasn't as full of trash and broken glass like the sandy, popular section.  There was a beautiful rock island off in the distance, so we walked along the other end of the beach to get a better view.  We clambered on the rocks as far as we were comfortable, but we knew if we went too far and the tide came back in, we would have been really screwed.      

One goal of mine while at the beach was to eat a coconut.  I've been waiting until we go to the beach to get one, because in Quito, they are usually about a dollar each.  I had this fantasy that they would be dirt cheap closer to where they grow.   Nope.  The first guy I asked wanted 2 dollars for one.  Same with everyone else.  I finally found a guy that would give me one for a dollar, only to find it wasn't ripe.  So all I got was the coconut water but no meat inside.  We finally just bought a large glass of coconut juice made by blending coconut with its milk and adding sugar. It was amazing.

Coconut with no meat

That's better

  The rest of the day was spent sitting on the beach just watching the waves and drinking a bottle of wine I got for a birthday present.  Originally, we planned on spending the night, but since things were becoming a lot more expensive than planned, we decided just to take another overnight bus back to Quito.  We didn't even want to find out how much rooms were a night.   Before heading back, I had to try a local dish called an encocado.  It's like a stew with curry and coconut and whichever type of seafood you want.  We went to an empty restaurant and I ordered the encocado for $5, and Amber asked how much an almuerzo (fixed lunch) was.  The lady said 3 dollars.  Oddly, on the menu it said the price was for an almuerzo was only $2.50.   Yet one more example of someone trying to get away with asking for more because they can.  We finished our meals (the encocado was delicious) and when a different person came to take our plates, we gave her exactly $7.50 and left quickly.  Back in Atacames, we bought our tickets back to Quito, and then spent a little bit of time wandering around near the station.  There was a bridge that kids were fishing off of, so I bought a Coke (for its normal price) and Amber and I sat and watched them fish.  For only having a line, hook, and sinker, they caught quite a few.  We arrived in Quito around 4:30 in the morning, slept in the bus station for a couple of hours until it got light out, and then walked home.

  
Interesting Simpsons Fact:  After work everyday, we watch Los Simpsons from 6 - 7.   Fortunately, they rerun the episodes from the first 9 seasons, so I basically have them all memorized, which then helps me with my Spanish.  Most of the characters have kept their orginal names but some have been changed to be easier for a Spanish speaking audience.  Homer is Homero.  Barney Gumble is changed to Barney Gomez.  Kearney, the bald one of the bullies, is now Enrique, and Itchy and Scratchy are Tomy and Daly for some reason.  The strangest difference of all however is they dub over the Bumble Bee guy's voice.  He only speaks Spanish in the English version. Why do they need to change his voice? Sometimes they even change what he says from one Spanish phrase to another.  It's already in Spanish!! There's no point in changing it.  

The Big Bad Chugchucara

This past Saturday Johnny and I took a 1.5 hour bus ride ($1.50) from Quito to a town in the south called Latacunga. Normally we just pass though this town on the Panamerican Highway on our way to different places even farther south. I will give you one guess as to why we ventured to this small town along the highway. Yup, you probably guessed it... there was an interesting food dish there that we decided we HAD to try. The dish is called Chugchucara (pronounced Choo-Choo-Car-Ah). There were many places in town that offered this and we eventually settled on a nice small place called Chugchucara Emanuel a bit south of the downtown. The dish isn't exactly made up of food you can only get in Latacunga, but Latacunga is the only place that you can get all of it together at the same time.  The dish cost $6 and included: mote with chincharron (hominony with fried pork bits), tostadas (fried corn kernals), papas (potatoes), empenadas (sweet ones with cheese), popcorn, fritada (fried pork chunks), cuero (fried pork skin) and maduras (ripe, fried plantains).

John with the whole dish and some Ají

Everything was super good and we finished it in about 10 minutes. (Note: this plate can be shared but I am sure that John could have eaten two on his own... which is why I love him). I know that my favorite part was the empenadas. We ended up ordering 5 more at the end of the meal for $1. Yum. We ate them while we walked around enjoying the city. After a few moments John spotted the highest point in the city and asked if we could walk up to it. After all, it would not be a trip with John without having to climb something. When we got to the mirador (lookout) we discovered that we could not climb up it. Darn. We did get a really good view of the city from where we were at though.

                 

Before catching the bus back to Quito we went on the hunt for some ice cream. We wanted to get the ice cream of a town near by called Salcedo but we couldn't find any. We settled on a new type of Topsy ice cream. John got coconut and I got chocolate. He liked the chocolate better so we ended up switching halfway through. The bus ride back was uneventful and we were back home before dark.

Interesting fact: Quito has always had a speed limit but it has never been enforced. Everyone just sped and drove wherever they wanted. It was kind of scary at times to be on the road... especially in a bus when the driver took turns at close to 90 MPH. Now the cops are doing something about the limit and they are serious about it. The limits are: 50km Urban and 90km Highway. If you violate this you get fined. A minor violation is: $87.63 fine and 6 points on your license. A major fine (which I believe is only going 10 km over) is 3 DAYS IN JAIL, $292 in fines (equal to one month pay of a minimum wage worker) and 10 points on your license. Can you imagine if they put people in jail for three days if they sped in the states... Ha.

Volcanoes and Chocolate

Two weekends ago we were on the trolley headed to the food market, and our co-worker Esteban calls and asks if we want to go with him and his wife to the refuge on Cotopaxi volcano.  We've been wanting to go there, so we say yes and try to get our shopping done as quickly as possible.  We meet up and start toward the mountains.  We take the more scenic route, which also means the road is really rough.  We passed by two other extinct volcanoes Sincholagua and Rumiñahui and then arrive to Cotopaxi National Park.  Amber and I get ready to pay the $10 entrance fee and Esteban comes back and tells us that the president of Ecuador has removed national park fees in the country except for Galapagos.  A pleasant surprise.  We then start the drive up the mountain.  The parking lot to the refuge in about 15,088 feet above sea level.  From there, it's another 656 feet up a sandy slope to the refuge.  The refuge is where people wanting to climb to the summit stay, and it also has food for day tourists too.  While we were there, we had good views of the nearby glaciers and we also saw a fox/wolf type animal that was hanging around trying to get scraps from the refuge.  On our way down, we saw several people with large backpacks heading up to the refuge to attempt a climb to the top the next day.  Some day I hope to be one of them.  Famished, we returned to Quito and stopped at a Hornado restaurant.  Hornado is a popular dish which is meat from a whole roasted pig, some of the skin fried like a pork rind, rice and an avocado.  Amber got mote (hominy) con chicharron (pork scraps).  I ate the chicharron.

Chimborazo from the ride

This past weekend was a three-day weekend because of an Independence Day holiday on Friday.  Amber and I have a goal of trying to do something in all 24 provinces of Ecuador.  Some provinces have very little to offer tourist wise, so we might just go to the largest city and eat lunch there.  Anyway, we originally wanted to go to the beach in Esmeraldas province, but our co-worker told us that's where everybody from Quito goes during vacations and so we may have a hard time getting a place to stay and finding a place to stand on the beach.  Not sounding like something we'd like, we changed our plans to trying to visit two different new provinces.  We decided on Los Rios province and Bolivar.  Los Rios has little to offer, but we decided to stay in Babahoyo for a night and then go to Bolivar and stay in Salinas de Guaranda.  All of the descriptions of Babahoyo sound like it's a nothing city other than being hot and dangerous.  When we got to the bus station in Quito, the line to the beach was at least 200 ft long.  Dodged that bullet.  We try to get tickets to Babahoyo only to find that the bus has switched its routes to go only to the beach to accommodate for the number of people wanting to go there.  We had to change our plans at the station.  We decided to just stay in Guaranda, the city near Salinas.  The drive to Guaranda was about 4 1/2 hours and the last hour or so was really pretty.  It goes through Chimborazo National Park and passes within 5 km of Chimborazo volcano.  The city of Guaranda is fairly boring.  We got a hostel room in Guaranda and had a terrible night's sleep because of bright lights and loud people.

Standing in the salt mine with Salinas in the background

Chocolate making room

 Saturday morning, we headed out to the town of Salinas de Guaranda in a pick-up truck/taxi.  The town of Salinas was once very poor, but about 40 years ago a local priest turned the town around by organizing a cheese making co-op.  This became prosperous, so many other co-ops were created, such as chocolate making, soccer balls, dried mushrooms, textiles, salami, oils, and more.  We got there pretty early and nothing was open, so we wandered down the the salt mines which consisted of open pools of salty water on the side of the hill.  After that, we went back to the town and saw the chocolate making building and then the cheese building.  Outside of the cheese co-op, an old man in a wheel chair asked if I could push him down to the bread store about 200 feet away.  I said yes.  The whole time we were there, I kept looking at these towering cliffs that stood above the town.  Amber wasn't feeling that great at the time but she said I could go up without her to look at them.  I ran up the trail and found that the cliffs were the sides of a beautiful valley.  I ran down the valley a bit and found a cave in the side of the cliff.  I ran back to Amber to tell her that it was worth the walk up, so she came back with me and we hiked a bit in the valley and cave.  We climbed up to a cross that overlooked the town and then hiked back down.

Valley near Salinas

 Having accomplished everything we could in Salinas, we headed back to Guaranda and then Quito.  The trip back to Guaranda was in the back of a covered pick-up truck with a dog tied to the bed and we picked up people up along the way.  

Interesting fact:  The road between Ambato and Guaranda is the highest paved road in Ecuador.  It reaches more than 4000 meters or 13,125 feet.  The area here is treeless and looks like a grassy desert.  There is life here though, including vicuñas (small llama-like animals) and even people living in small grass huts.

Amazon Adventure: Tena

Last weekend John, some of the participants that were still i Quito, and I went to the "doorway of the Amazon forest" aka Tena. We hopped on a 5 hour bus ride from the South terminal in Quito to Tena. The ride was really pretty with huge, high waterfalls and views down into the valleys. I thought the driver was driving a little out of control down the curvy mountain roads... but we made it there safely so I guess he knew what he was doing. In Tena we searched for the perfect hostel. We eventually settled on one with the very cliche name "A welcomed break" (and yes it was in English). It was neat though and had hammocks and bunk beds. Plus it was only $7/person a night.

After securing the hostel room we went looking for lunch. We wanted to go to a vegetarian place that was mentioned in the tour book but it was closed. The boys of the group ended up at a pizza place where they each got a medium pizza. John and I went to a traditional almuerzo place and had a pretty decent lunch. After we were full we decided to make our way to the Amazonia park that was on a little island in the middle of two rivers. Again according to the trusty guide book there was supposed to be a bridge to the island. After searching for a few minutes we determined that the bridge had been demolished and we had to take a canoe across. Fun. The park turned out to be pretty neat. We saw a few different animals (all in cages) that ranged from snakes to porcupines and turtles to (my favorite) the capybara. ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size)! We also saw small monkeys that were not in cages. We tossed them oranges and they caught them. Also, we learned that the monkeys have really bad tempers. When we took away the oranges they would hop up and down in the tree and shake the leaves violently.

Then we climbed a super shaky lookout tower and eventually ended up down by the river. John was brave and got in the river but I just walked along the shore. To get back across to the main land we took a taribita (wire basket that is person propelled by a rope and two pulleys). Poor John got massive blisters from hauling my butt across the river. When it got dark we wandered in to town where a dance competition was going on. It was actually quite disturbing because young girls were provocatively dancing on the stage while grown men watched. We had a beer at a restaurant that faced the back of the stage... so we didnt really see anything, we just heard the men cheering. Gross. We wanted to find a quieter place to hang out so we went down by the river. Around 10 everyone wanted to head back to the hotel...
   John was up bright and early the next day. We waited around in the hammocks until the rest of the group woke up. We had breakfast at the Tortuga cafe. They had traditional breakfasts and pancakes and things like that too. We didn't really know what to do after that so we headed down to the beach again. This time we found sand at the river (not rocks). The boys went swimming and had turns throwing small rocks at a large rock on the opposite side of the river (fun!). We tried to take the 1pm bus home but it was full and we got stuck on the 1:50 bus. On the ride home I had just fallen asleep when the bus stopped. I heard some Spanish being spoken at the front but I ignored it until John told me that it was a police and we had to get off of the bus. I guess that they chose our bus to randomly search for drugs and stuff like that. I am just glad that I decided to bring a copy of my passport... usually I dont (bad habit... I already know). The check took about 30 minutes and then we were off again.

We arrived back in Quito just around when it was starting to get dark. John walked the participants home and I walked home by myself.
   All in all, Tena is a really neat spot to visit and I would actually consider going back there with John one day. More pictures on my facebook page : )


Interesting fact: Tena is the kayaking capital of Ecuador (and possibly of South America). People from all over the world come to take on the challenge of the whitewater rivers here. From Tena you can access 7 different rivers  and 12 other river sections. You can have a relaxed journey on a Class II section or an expert adventure on a class V sectiion. We did not get the opportunity this time to try any of our mad skills (and by skills...  I mean lack there of)

Con nuestra labor...

We haven't gotten bored with writing on the blog.  We have just been very busy these past few weeks.  From June 20th to 22nd, our university hosted a tropical disease convention.  Roughly 500 people from different nations attended.  There were many presentations from doctors and students.  Amber was in charge of keeping track of who paid, who showed up, and who gets refunds.  She's still working on this 4 weeks later.   She also checked people in during the convention.  I was part of the audiovisual staff, and was in charge of one of the presentation rooms.  I basically set up the PowerPoint for the presenter and configured the meeting sharing program, so people in other countries could present to us.  I also had to give a 12 minute presentation about the work I'm doing with GIS and Chagas disease.  We usually worked about 10-12 hours during this convention.  The Sunday after the convention I took one of the students up Rucu Pichincha, the mountain overlooking Quito.  After, we ate salchipapas, which are french fries and cut up hot dogs.  I believe here is where I got my first food sickness in Ecuador.  I think I ate some bad mayonnaise or ketchup on my french fries.  I had a really bad stomach ache and fever for a day and so did the student I went climbing with.

One of the SNEM men fumigating a house. 

 The next week, students from Ohio University and other American universities started trickling in.  They were here for the summer program that the Tropical Disease Institute hosts every year, the same program Amber and I did 5 years ago.  On June 26 Amber went with a group of kids to the International Research Training Course in Cuenca, Ecuador. There she stayed at a hacienda in the county that had 65 horses. She basically helped to keep things organized and ran around when people needed something. At the end of the course she was able to take a horseback ride with some other students from the group. For the final night the group moved from the hacienda to a local hot springs hotel. Then the whole group moved to the city of Cariamanga to start the program.

Map I made of Chaquizca

   On June 30th the full program began and everybody(except for the people from Cuenca) took the 12-14 hour ride from Quito south to Cariamanga.  The first day involved an orientation for the students and a rough schedule of events.  The next two weeks followed more or less this pattern.  We would get up at 5:30, get dressed and meet everybody in our hotel for a quick meeting at 5:50 to see who was going where and in what vehicle.  I was in charge of making sure everyone had a two-way radio, so during this meeting, I would be running around handing out radios.  At 6:00, we would leave for the rural communities.  When we got to the communities, we would eat breakfast.  Our options were usually rice, chicken, eggs and juice, or if you wanted to be hungry one hour later, there was cereal and milk.  We then went to work.  There were 3 different groups that had their own job.  One group was the Clinic.  They went to a community and did physicals and various medical tests on the community members.  They also did eye exams and gave glasses to people who needed them.   The Entomology group went to a community and conducted home searches for the chinchorro bug (Chagas vector), filled out housing surveys, and fumigated the home.  The groups consisted of 2 SNEM (Servicio Nacional de Erradicación de Malaria) men and 2-3 students.  The third group was the Mammals group.  Their job was to go into the woods near the communities and place traps to catch live animals, which they would later test to see if they had Chagas disease.  This was the group that Amber was in for the two weeks.  There was another group called the Healthy Living, and they got to the communities a few weeks before us.  They were focused on community development.  I bounced around between Entomology and Mammals and some days I was by myself.  I was asked to make maps of 3 communities which contained photos of each home in the community.  These were then shown at the community open house at the end of the two weeks.  Most of our days in the field ended around 5:30pm, for Amber sometimes 8:30.  We would usually have more work back at the hotel, so really the day ended around 9:00 or later. 

Amber holding one of the animal traps

  While out in the field, we saw some things we don't get to see in Quito.  At one house, I got to see the panela making process.  I'm beginning to think that panela is more of a cheap, easy-to-make sweetener, than simply a sugar candy.  

The press they use to squeeze the juice from sugar cane.  The wood crank at the top is pulled by people or donkeys

The juice while it's boiling

The panela right before it is poured into the molds. It is like a very runny and hot taffy at this point.

On our last day in Cariamanga, we got to climb the small mountain that overlooks the town.  I have been up it before, but it was Amber and the students' first time.  Then it was time to go home.  13 hours later, we were back in Quito.  

Cerro Ahuaca, the mountain Amber and I climbed

 Interesting Fact:  A very common decorative tree in Ecuador is the elderberry tree.  Amber and I walk past at least a hundred along the road on our way to work and they line many of the sidewalks in Quito.  I've also seen them in people's yards and in the park. Strangely, I don't think they use the berries for anything.  I have never seen any kind of jam or pie or dessert that uses them.  I ate one off the tree to be sure that's what they were, and it tasted like one, and I didn't get sick.

Us on the mountain

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.