Otavalo

The Otavalo market is open everyday but on Saturdays people really come out in force. The local Chichua people still dress very traditionally and the language of the market is a mixture of Chichua, Spanish and English for linguistically challenged tourists. Everyone is very polite and while there a few people wandering around selling and a very small number of beggars, the transactions are pretty low pressure compared to many such markets in the world.
Available foods are very interesting but........
it is the weaving and other crafts for which Otavalo is justly famous. Suffice to say that we engaged energetically in commerce.

After the market we drove up the base of the Cotacachi volcano to Lake Cuicocha, a deep volcanic lake at the base of the female pair of volcanoes between which Otavalo sits. The lake is largely sterile due to gases leaking from the bottom. We then had lunch in the town of Cotocachi. Just as Otovalo is famous for textiles, Cotocachi is famous for leather; again commerce happened, followed by a lovely lunch. Jorge knows his restuarants. Food is very cheap and if you are well guided, very good.

Imbubura and Lago de San Pablo - the male half of the volcano pair (I don't know how you tell a volcano's sex!).

Then it was back to Quito for a night at the hotel. Tomorrow we go for a relaxing day and night to a spa and hot springs at Papallacta, then off to the Amzon rainforest on Monday!

Tulipe and the Equator

A chance question to Jorge while walking in the cloud forest as to whether the native people of Ecuador had established trails like the Inca trail led to a visit the following morning to a 1 year old interpretative centre in the village of Tulipe which contains major religious sites of the Yumbo people who acted as go betweens between highland and coastal peoples in pre-Inca era. It seems they were keen astronomers and the structures here were not the base of sunken houses but were actually reflecting pools used as mirrors to look at the moon and stars.

The site is run totally by local people as a village enterprise and is very well done - the only thing wrong is the admission price; charging tourists only $2 for a 1 hour guided tour of a beautifully kept site is ridiculous; it should be more with a discount for Ecuadorians!
Showing the reflecting properties of one of the 6 major pools. This is a view looking into the crater of the Pasachoa volcano near Quito. The area is a forest preserve, but a small group of indigenous people continue to farm the base of the crater, which is the plug of an active volcano not a dormant one!
The volcano is near where the Ecuator intersects Quito. There is a fun interpretative centre there (although the guides knowledge of physics is bit sparse) where you can try experiments that demonstrate you truly are at the equator. There is the old standby of water going down the drain straight on the line, clockwise south of the line and counter clockwise north of it, but the real challenge was balancing an egg on a nail. Jane and I couldn't do it (we're blaming the wind), but we did see it done.
Ecuador nearly lost all its llamas to sheep farming, so the centre was our first encounter with this charming beast.

We then had a leisurely drive to Hacienda Pinsaqui near Otavalo, an 18th century hacienda, although all but one part had to be rebuilt in the 19th after a major earthquake. We were welcomed with traditionally cinnamon flavoured fruit tea and pretty potent cinnamon and cane alcohol liquer and had and hour before dinner of traditional local music and dancing in the cellar that is the part survived the aforementioned earthquake.

The Cloud Forest

Day one started with a tour around Quito, including a trip up a cable car to the crater of nearby volcano (quiet for now) which gave some impressive views of the city, although stair climbing at 4100m (13,300 ft) above sealevel was a challenge.

This is Jorge with our wheels for the trip (yes, I know I said it was a Blazer - it is a Rodeo). The main roads aren't bad although the driving is pretty freeform; double yellow lines are more of a guideline than a rule. The last dozen kilometres to Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge were along a single track dirt road with wash aways that could eat a Smart car. At one point we had to reverse about 200m to allow another vehicle to pass.

The lodge is located in the midst of the forest and is run by an Englishman who arrived with a back pack in 1982 and never left. All the buildings are of local materials. There are a number of very knowledgeable guides who take you for walks in the forest at dawn, mid morning and late afternoon. Rubber boots (which we did bring) are a must, although they will provide them if you have no objections the sharing other people's foot sweat. Some of the trails are incredibly steep and on the late afternoon walk (also at 2800m) I felt like I do at the end of fast (for me) 10 km run.
Why it got its' name. The cloud doesn't so much as blow in, but actually materializes over the forest - could be something in this for the biologists that are arguing that biological agents seed clouds and cause rain and snow (see New Scientist - this month).
The balcony or our room - made of local bamboo like material, alhough the larger canes come from lower down the mountains on the coastal side. It does keep the rain off but has no sound insulating properties - with 3 units in the building, you had to hope no-one wanted to stay up late.

I admit it - I have lots of bird photos, but I am going to behave and not clutter the blog with them; I thought I would show off a bit with this one of a racquet-tail humming bird in flight. There were dozens of hummingbirds of several species hovering around the lodge at all times in daylight.
Ditto for flowers!

Ola from Ecuador

La Plaza de San Francisco
The volcanoes to the west of Quito, view from a park near the Hotel Los Alpes

The cloisters of La Iglesia de San Francisco.

We made it to Ecuador safe and sound. The flights were long, made longer by the “economical” entertainment systems on Continental airlines, i.e. none at all on a 4 hour flight to Houston and 2 movies on 5 inch square screens every 5 rows on the flight to Quito. I suppose we now know who bought the systems they took out of most other international carriers’ aircraft.

We were met when we expected to be and spent the first night in small hotel that is more like a bed and breakfast. It was quiet, is full of beautiful local crafts and the hot water works (what more can one ask!). After breakfast where we got a wealth of tips from a pediatric neurologist from Kentucky and his wife who are making their 6th trip to Ecuador, we went for a 4 hour walk up into the old colonial district. It certainly seems we are here before the peak tourist season; I was one of only about 3 people wielding serious cameras. We got nabbed for a man in the street TV interview outside La Iglesia de San Francisco, probably one of the most photographed spots in Quito – an idea that lasted as long as it took to find out how much Spanish we didn’t speak.

Our first tour starts tomorrow, it turns out we are 2 members of a tour group of 2 so we spend the next 13 days traveling around Ecuador in a red Chevy Blazer with a private guide, Jorge. We have been moved to a much grander hotel for one night and a couple more whenever we come back through Quito, although it is really just like any other North American hotel with a slightly Spanish flavour. It does have Internet access and hopefully that means we can post to the blog regularly every few days.

Next trip

Ecuador and the Galapagos this time - we may or may not have internet access on the road so we'll see how we go.