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Otavalo
Oct 14th -Oct 16th (Day 224 - 226)
Due to the safety of the buses and Captain Sensible Moores (Chris), we took a shared taxi to Otavalo. Booking these tickets the day before was a bit of a challenge, but the guys at "Taxi Lagos" laughed with us until we finally were understood. Whose idea was it to leave the Spanish phrase book back at the hostel….? (Please put your hand up Captain Sensible Moores)
The taxi ride there took about 3 hours as we spent about an hour picking up another four passangers. It was an interesting experience. Chris being ´anti-social ´chose to the take the front seat of the taxi whilst I ended up being cramped in the middle surrounded by Ecuadorians. Behind me sat a young woman and her little girl who spent a majority of the journey trying to speak to me in Spanish and playing with my hair and face. Sat either side of me where two newly reunited primary school friends who spent the whole journey gassing away with wild hand gestures. The woman next to me spoke English and proceeding to tell that she loved to talk, and loved to talk she did!!
We were dropped off at our hostel and were welcomed in by the lovely Roberto. Our room was nice and as a bonus had reception for WIFI too. We spent that afternoon exploring the small town. We had a late late lunch at… Taco Bell. I finally got my Taco Bell experience, though I am not sure whether it was quite the same as the original one. The town is very small, and is surrounded by lakes and mountains - very beautiful. It is very different from the Quito. Everyone is very welcoming and we feel safer here.
The next morning was the famous Saturday market, and it didn´t disappoint. The market sprawls over lots of streets and is a huge display of crafts, gifts and everyday items. After making Chris follow me around for a couple of hours I was insistent on purchasing a huge impractical fabric bag. We ended the afternoon with some recommended pie and ice cream. Delicious.
Our last day here we spent the morning wandering around the markets again and I ended up buying two ridiculous multi coloured hats for 12 USD, then finding out later I would but a third for only 3USD! After all those months spent in Asia I thought my bargaining skills were top notch…. clearly it still needs some work.
In the afternoon we took a walk to a nearby waterfall 3km away. It was a pleasant walk passing by lots of houses, patches of fields with cows, sheep and horses, Kids playing around and saying hello to us, dogs barking at us, people playing volleyball and football. (Chris of course wanted to join in with the latter). We arrived at the waterfall, that it set in a forest and next to a village. It was a small waterfall and lots of locals were around having bbqs and enjoying their family Sunday. It was a nice thing to see.
We walked back to town and ended up in the pie shop again….. who could resist it…
xxxx
- comments
Joff Great write up Twizzle! Glad to see you're keeping up the effort to maintain the blog. It will be a great travel diary to look back on in years to come. Really enjoyed your Quito/Otovalo posts as we have been there not so long ago. We even used the same taxi company to get to Otovalo. It seemed like the best value for money at the time, but given that there us more risk of being in a head on collision on the winding roads than being mugged and when you factor in all the pickups the bus is actually quicker, I think I'll be taking the bus next time. Better to be in a collision in a bus than a taxi and they're all equally crazy. Plus on the buses you get to sing along with the "una dollar, una dollar" chants from the street traders who hop on and off along the way. I hope Peru was as wonderful as I imagine. Very much still on my todo list. Take care, Joff xx