Starting with the animal market around 7.30 to watch people selling pigs, chickens, cows.... guinea pigs. A few in the group decided to buy a pig each and see who could make the smallest loss, we were also joined for a short period by Oscar the duckling, he was eventually given away as a free gift with the pig.

Next we moved into the centre of town for the craft market - lots of jewellery, llama hats, scarves etc. We both managed to limit our shopping to a pair of earrings as we're aware that we still have 2.5months to cart our stuff around.

In the morning it was an early rise again, however, for it was Saturday, market day in Otavalo.  Karine and I met at breakfast and caught the bus north, a 2.5 hour ride, entertainment courtesy of Independence Day dubbed in Spanish.  The Otavalo market was hugh, with booths stretching in all directions, seemingly endless.  They sold local crafts, ponchos and sweaters, toys, little wooden guitars, jewelry, and an assortment of other trinkets.  We realized quickly that there was no need to see all the booths, as the stock and selection were so similar, so set ourselves to shopping.  Otavalo is known for its haggling, a feat I had not yet tried.  My 1^st purchase I was too shy to try, but the 2^nd one I forced myself to and naturally was successful, as the vendors expect to give discounts.  By the end of the market I had it down pat and secured some great deals, picking up some gifts to mail off later.  We shopped until around 4, grabbed a quick bite and headed for a bus to Quito.

The bus we caught turned to to be full, so we ended up with seats in the very front: Karine got shotgun, and I got to sit on a cooler in the very middle, one leg on each side of the gearstick and my back pressed right up on the heater.  The seat was far from comfortable, but it did allow me to view with painstaking clarity the rules of the Ecuadorian road.  Here are some of the local bus driving rules I was able to deduce:

1.       Always fill your bus to ridiculous capacity.  If the seats are gone, ask the newcomers who flag you from the side of the road if they mind to stand.  Pack the aisle full of those who agree.

2.       Beware of cows on the road.  They like to wander into traffic and stand there stupidly.

3.       Passing zones are simply a suggestion.  Feel free to pass at all times, irregardless of double yellow lines, upcoming blind corners or even oncoming traffic.

4.       If multiple cars want to pass the same car simultaneously, this is also fine.  Just drive side by side around the slower vehicle and then race at the end to see who will be ahead.

5.       Honking is vital.  Honk at everything: slow vehicles, other buses approaching, people at the side of the road, sometimes at nothing at all.  Don’t honk once, honk multiple times at all aforementioned items, especially the oncoming buses.  Flash your lights at these as well.

6.       All buses must be decorated with as may Virgin Mary´s as will possibly fit.

7.       Feel free to meander aimlessly between lanes on multilane roads.  After all, if someone wants you to move they will honk.

Despite all this, we arrived unscathed in Quito right in time for dinner.  After eating Karine went to bed, I however went on the piss with a few Secret Gardeners, one being Ellen, a really nice girl with an almost identical itinerary to mine, except she flies to NZ one week after me.  I have a feeling we´ll meet a few times along the way, hopefully anyway as we seem to click quite well.

                So 4 of us headed out to Finn McCool´s, the local Irish pub (some name, isn´t it! Finn McCool!) for a few games of darts and pitchers of beer.  A bigger crowd from the hostel showed up later but we turned down the option to go nightclubbing and headed back at 1-ish.

Vandaag zijn we met de bus naar Otavalo gereisd. Ca 2 1/2 uur met de bus. Ging verrassend makkelijk. De taxi gooide zijn auto voor de bus, zodat wij nog konden instappen. Voor USD2 pp reizen we ca 85 km verder, kost helemaal niets hier. De zaterdagmarkt van Otavalo is een must voor de toerist die op zoek is naar souvenirs en mooie kodakmomentjes. En da´s ons gelukt. Na zo´n 4 uren slenteren hadden we het weer gezien, op tijd met de bus terug, zodat we voor het donker weer terug zijn in Quito. Dat ging heel smooth! Weer een fantastische en impressievolle dag achter de rug. Morgenvroeg vertrekken we per vliegtuig naar de Galapagoseilanden. Dus dan zijn we een weekje uit de running! Hopelijk tot laterz!! Liefs Zwa & Peter 

Last weekend I had a pleasant weekend in Otavalo and Mindo, just north of Quito city. It was great to get out of Puente 3 (Bridge 3) and have a look around some other places.  It was also very nice to escape the diesel smog in Quito as I have been suffering from Trachyitis for the past 10 days.  Renata and Sander (a Dutch couple also living with my host family) were good company on this trip and I was grateful for their organization and assistance.  They have traveled extensively through Asia, Australia and New Zealand and I have learned a few travel tips from them.  

In Otavalo I brought myself a brand new hand made felt fedora hat for about $9.  It is excellent in the rain.  After spending the morning in the animal and artisan markets in Otavalo, which have all manner of woven and knitted goods, in many bright colours in the indigenous indian style, we caught a bus to a nearby pretty lake under the shadow of a volcano and then on to Mindo. A two hour bus trip in Ecuador costs $USD 2.00. 

Apparently this is the largest Artisans and Crafts market in South America.

It's a nice market and Nicole ended up buying a pink handbag. However I'm not sure if it's all that as it's made out to be but then I'm not a great fan of markets.

The bus ride had been ok and at about 2 hours quite passable although after the overnight ride just hours before I was glad to get off the bus. As we got our bags we discovered to our horror that Nicole's backpack had somehow become doused in some unidentified liquid. Not having eaten since Puerto Lopez we first got some coffee at the corner of the bus terminal (coffee was very good) and checked the map for hostels. The Rincon del Viajero was only 2 blocks away so we walked there and found ourselves a double room.

During the walk the liquid had identified itself as rather foul smelling and to be off some sort of fish remains. Thus as soon as we were at the hostal, Nicole got busy first emptying and then thoroughly washing her backpack to get rid of the offensive fish smell.

Otavalo is very scenicly set between lush green mountains and I got a very peaceful feeling there. That evening we ate at the restaurant at our hostal where they also had some live music played by locals who entertained us with pan-pipe filled melodies of Ecuador and Peru.

Quinoa Café is located inside El Meson de las Flores Hotel in Cotacachi Ecuador. As the name implies, Quinoa is a big part of the cafés' menu as it is served regularly. Each day, the chef and restaurant team prepare a menu featuring a bountiful selection of the freshest fruits, vegetables, fish and other items selected from the local market. The menu reflects the rich cultural heritage of the people of the Ecuadorean Andes. I ate breakfast here four days in a row and everyday was different fresh fruit and grain cereal along with fresh juice from vegetables and fruit. This place is very health conscience and yet they manage to serve terrific food. The café has seating for about 40 people in the beautiful courtyard in the center of the hotel. There is also seating for an additional 40 people in a covered area adjacent to the courtyard. I unfortunately had to sit here for a couple of meals because it was raining. The staff at the hotel and especially at the Café are very friendly. they got to know me by name and they make you feel so at home. The Quinoa Café is a great place to to eat and just trust the chef to feed you his daily special, you won't be unhappy.

I picked Hostal Retorno because it was recommended by Lonely Planet (LP) and because, of all the hostels listed in LP, it was closest to the ice cream shop listed in LP. Unfortunately, I was let down. Retorno catered to a more risquée niche. It had a lovely lubricant and contraception display in the front hall and condom vending machines scattered throughout. When I entered my room, I found a sign instructing me to stay in my assigned bed. Fortunately, the hostel was not very busy, and I avoided discovering what sharing a room would entail. My feeling of alarm increased when I entered the bathroom. It was very clean, but the light switch was located inside of the the shower. When I checked out the next morning, I had my last Retorno-induced laugh. The maid made the bed, but failed to change the sheets. A hostel that markets that many condoms should really have more hygienic bedding practices.

I stayed here while visiting the Cotacachi area, two new friends stayed there as well. The stay was for six nights, but we only got billed for five, yeaaah! We got a discount for being with a tour, and I can’t remember the posted price. Somewhere between $38-49 per night. Yes this is fairly pricey for Ecuador, but it is not a hostal, it is a very nice hotel that would cost well over a couple hundred bucks in certain areas of the states. The pictures show better than I can describe. The first three nights we were the only ones in the big place, but we didn’t spend much time there because we hung out at other places in town every night until bed time. There were still two or three on staff during the evenings and they were very friendly. The following few nights there were a couple of buses of people so there was a little action in the place. I didn’t eat there because we were always on the go, so I can’t give and advise on the food. The rooms were big and roomy, I had two double beds, cable TV, desk, stand up shower with very hot water! There was also closet space to hang up clothes or jackets, unfortunately I needed a jacket in this part of the country. The amenities are unbelievable! It is a huge property with many walking paths, a basketball court, two tennis courts, outdoor pool, and other activity centers. The restaurant seats over 100 people and there are other big rooms to hold conference meetings. There is also a llama that wanders around freely within the whole complex, one night he was under the front door awning to keep out of the rain. I would not have chosen this place if was me picking the accommodations, but someone did it for me and I thank them, because I want to return to this Hotel on my next visit. I recommend this place if you are not on a tight budget, or if you want to splurge for at least one night.

Really an unexpected stop, but an enjoyable one. We found out about this jewel from one of our rides while we were on our way to Quito . . . so we thought. We figured, why not stop off here really quickly and check out the infamous "Mercado de los Ponchos" and meet the country's Indigenous population . . . Again, we had a nice time.

At first, Arnaud had a hard time finding us a place to stay, but after a while he eventually came upon a very nice family who was willing to let us in for the night! Wonderful people. And so generous too.

So after getting set up for the evening, we set out to check out the town a bit. Of course, we checked out the market, which was, in fact, very nice; though it looked a lot like the markets in Perú, with similar arts & crafts. Still, it was a fun time. Oh and I had a blast playing dress up too! Got a chance to try on one of the traditional costumes that the local women use. And I must say it was beautiful, but a bit expensive for me. I guess so, considering all the time that goes into the embroidery.

One thing, I definitely won't forget about our time here is the accident we witnessed. Well, actually, we didn't see it happen, but we did see the result . . . right in front of the living quarters where we were staying, a woman was run-over and left for dead, right there on the road!! I couldn't believe my eyes, but it was really happening! I couldn't bear to actually go up to the actual crime scene, but the people of the town, had no fear . . . they just went up as if it were normal. Crazy crazy crazy!!

C est vraiment un hasard si on s est arrete dans cette ville. C est un routier qui nous conseille cette ville, connu pour son marche de pancho. Comme tjrs,trouver une maison, se promener dans la ville, notre premiere rencontre, une famille d indiens completement bouree, apres quelques verres et de rigolades, nous visitons le marche, tres sympa, un peu cher, mais interesant! Avec tout de meme des regrets, car ne pouvant rien acheter, vu nos sacs! Et plus tard dans la soiree comme tjrs, ce fut un exellent moment chez l habitant, tjrs aussi curieux de nous connaitre, de poser de milliers de questions, de parler toute la nuit.

Sometimes they say that life is stranger than fiction. As I stood outside the bathroom next to the cock fighting pit looking at newspaper clippings and talking to a man about his friend in the photos, who of course is a world champion speed walker at multiple distances, and how they train in the high altitude mountains outside of Otavalo, I thought how true that is.

But perhaps such is one´s quest to see a cock fight, especially the one in Otavalo. After confirming the location of the pit with two locals, we were given conflicting starting times and were forced to check back at each time because we wanted to get good seats. So we waited as the market wound down and the mass exodus from town had commenced as all the sellers packed up their wares and left. I wasn´t too sure what the refreshments situation would be like at the cock fight, whether it would be like every sporting event in the US where they have hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, and beer and soda, or whether it would be more of a bring your own type of event.  At first we showed up with a few beers and snacks but the building still wasn´t open so we decided to go hang out in the park and check back an hour later. Again no luck. Another hour passed by and still nothing. This time I talked with the man outside the bathroom about speed walking and the mountains and he told us to come back in an hour and that is when the action would start. So after another hour we come back and the whole area is deserted, except for a few people loitering around. Now we decided to go play some pool at the tiny little local place, that had only been filled with Ecuadoreans all week long. When we walked in, everything stopped inside for a second or two. After getting a table, one of the three, we were lucky enough to get the a complete set of balls. The other tables were missing at least a few each. We tried to rack the balls with one of the two wooden triangles that were there. Strangely they were both different sizes. More strangely neither one fit all the balls. I found this rather ironic that in a town famous for its artisans, that they couldn´t get someone to make a wooden triangle. But nonetheless it was fun and it helped to pass another hour. This time when we returned to the cock fighting pit the building was open and there were a few people milling around the place but it was still pretty dull and mostly filled with other tourists.

After some more people started coming in, some of them bringing roosters in special bags, I´m not sure where you would buy these bags, maybe there is a cock fighting catalog or such, but the place began to fill up and soon it seemed like things would start up. They had a bar there selling beer, liquor, and soda, but no food, maybe food distracts the birds. On my trip out to the bar I walked in on the preparation ceremony. One man was holding the rooster and had trimmed the nail up on its leg to create a hole. Over this hole he placed a metal plate with a hole in it to use a support. This metal piece was taped to the birds leg. Into this metal hole and the nail hole a long sharp needle-like thorn was inserted with the point facing outward and was taped to the birds leg. This process was repeated with the other leg resulting in the bird having two sharp needles with the points facing backward from their legs. The whole time the bird was shaking as if it were scared, but it wasn´t in any pain, not yet anyways. The first bird was then brought into the ring and its handler would wave a random rooster in front of it to really rile it up and get it into fighting mode while its adversary was being similarly prepared. With two birds in the ring, each handler held the birds and they touched the heads together, similar to the touching of gloves in a boxing match. After this the timer was set to some random amount and the birds were unleased on each other.

Finally free, the birds quickly faced each other and flared the feathers behind their neck to create almost a hood, in attempt to intimidate its oppenent. This was followed in rapid succession by a quick charge and some pecking to the head and neck. The action was really fast and it was hard to determine what was happening most of the time. The birds would occasionally fly up and gouge at each other with the thorns on their legs. From time to time the birds would become entangled when their nails would catch in the other bird´s feathers. When this happened the referee stepped in to break up the birds with help from their handlers. After the initial time expired the handlers collected their birds and wiped the blood off their heads and then either kissed the birds for luck or gave them mouth-to-mouth to help them breath, and then it was back to the fighting. People in the stands would look and yell things as the fighting intensified and a few times the action was less than a few feet directly under our front row seats. Despite being so close it was hard to follow a lot of the action as it was mostly a high speed flurry of feathers and pecking. The fighting continued until one of the birds got weaker and weaker from losing so much blood from its cumulative wounds. Eventually, one bird would strike a death blow on its weaker counterpart and the bird would go limp and go down. At this point victory was declared and the birds were separated and removed from the ring. The winner was praised and taken to be cleaned up and rested for another match later in the night. The loser, well, he was not so lucky. In reality, the loser was still alive, albeit just barely. Removed from the ring and taken to an area just nearby, the bird left a bloody trail along its exit route. Nearby the ring the bird was held upside down over the concrete floor and allowed to bleed out as it slowly died of the course of a minute or two.

Such is the cycle of the cock fight. There are long delays in between matches as the birds have to be prepared. Opponents are selected by displaying the birds on a long table and discussing the the number of victories that each bird has, and probably a few other things that I didn´t understand. There is also considerable betting that goes on for each match, and I have no clue what the odds are or how they even determine that, it was well beyond my level of spanish. The one thing I did find out is that you can bring your own rooster to fight. So what I recommend, if you find yourself at the market in Otavalo on a Saturday, is to buy a rooster from the live animal market in the morning, train it during the day, and then bring it to the cock fighting pit at night. Its always better when you have a vested interest in something.

Coming in from Colombia, Otavalo was certainly a big change. The look of the people was vastly different, as there are loads of indigenous people living in the area, and they have a very unique look to them. To begin with they are very short, some barely even four feet tall and many of them are always hunched over carrying something on their backs, be it a baby wrapped up in a sheet, or large sacks of wool goods or other crafts. And they all look so old, like little gnarled bundles of durable humanity, covered in wrinkles forged over the years. Arriving there on Tuesday night allowed for plenty of time to check out the town in the gaps between the ever popular Saturday market, renowned to be one of the best in South America. These weekdays revealed the real Otavalo, the one less tarnished by rampant tourism. During the week, two components of the Saturday market still operate, though to a lesser extent. The artisans bring their goods to the main plaza and there is still a produce and food market, daily. To me the selection seemed similar for many items, but some were only found on Saturdays. There is a large selection of wool goods, made from alpaca, as well as colorful hats, rugs, trinkets and other things. I bought a few things and during the week it was a very relaxed atmosphere, which was nice. On Friday when I walked through the artisan market toward the end of the day, I talked to one of the women selling things and we had this exchange, translated from Spanish:

Look at this scarf
It´s very nice but I´m going to come back tomorrow
It will be more expensive tomorrow
Why will it be more expensive tomorrow?
Because tomorrow there will be many tourists
But I am a tourist
Yes but today is not tomorrow

Very clever I thought, but I still didn´t buy the scarf, I had already bought some anyways. But she was right, all the vendors did raise their prices on Saturday, although there was plenty of room for bargaining, especially since there were so many stalls selling similar things.

The produce market was a whole other matter. There were stalls with all sorts of fruits and vegetables along the one entranceway to the market, there were a few strange fruits including this long thin green fruit, that I had never seen before. The name started with a G, but I couldn´t really understand how the guy was pronouncing it. I had to ask him how you eat it, and so he got out his knife and showed us, to some laughter from the few locals standing around. You have to split open on the narrow side and then there are these series of fleshy white pods that surround a black pit, a pretty mild tasting fruit, but quite good, and the unopened fruit can double as a weapon too. Another amazing part of this market was the large number of different soups that were being made. One woman was making this massive pot of soup, that was big enough for me to fit inside, I asked her if I could try some and she pulled out the large ladle and gave me a spoon. It tasted good so I ordered a bowl, it was a type of chicken soup and was pretty tasty, although there were definitely a few chicken hearts floating around in my soup. I had another soup that was real cheesy with potatoes and some finely diced pieces of chicken heart, liver, stomach, and intestines. The most outstanding feature of the market was meat section. Probably one of the more nauseating things I´ve seen. There tables with freshly decapitated goat heads, skinned pig heads, and just large bins of organs: intestines, livers, stomach linings, kidneys; you name it, it was there. Unfortunately I wasn´t able to a picture of the big bucket of cow hearts, because they whisked them away when I took out my camera and said that I needed to buy them if I wanted to take a picture, and I really didn´t know what to do with $5 worth of cow hearts. There were also these big bowls of jellied fat as well as loosely folded up bundles of animal skin, fatty tissue side up. The worst part was probably the cumulative smell, a mixture of wet dead animals and meat, organs, and fat, all come to rest at temperature with persistent flies in the air. Quite the environment to say the least.

On Saturday, the town transforms into this massive marketplace, with artisan vendors filling most of the streets and straining the town´s transportation system.  In additon to the two previously mentioned markets there is also a livestock market and a small animal market. The livestock market is held slightly outside of town and people bring their cows, pigs, horses, and goats to sell. This wasn´t nearly as interesting as the small animal market. The small animal market had people selling guinea pigs, a local delicacy, as well as ducks, lots of chickens, geese, turkeys, snails, rabbits, dogs and cats (as pets). It was really the sheer variety of animals in such close proximity that made it interesting; there were puppies escaping their bag only to run into baby chickens or ducks with looks of bewilderment. One person might have a little pen set up and be selling something like one duck, four chickens, a turkey, and some guinea pigs, all together in the same pen. There were definitely lots of chickens bought and sold with the birds being toted around upside down by their legs or thrown into sacks along with other small creatures.

The market day was at least colorful and varied, the downside was the massive tourist presence, it totally transformed the town, now I could see why there were at least a dozen pizza places, which for some reason is like a gourmet food. For me, it was just as interesting to watch the vendors break down their make-shift stalls at the end of the day and pack up all their stuff, folding it intricately and re-packing it into large sacks or bins and then pulling apart the metal suports and wooden benches before loading it all into trucks. As the day wore on, the crowds thinned out and many people left town the same day they arrived, leaving behind trash strewn streets and a much more tranquil Otavalo, setting the stage for one of the town´s Saturday night activities, the cock fight...
 

Otavalo is a very pleasant market town just north of Quito. On Saturdays it hosts one of the largest artisan and food markets in South America with plenty of high quality examples of indigenous craftwork for sale.

At least that"s what the guidebooks say.

I didn"t care about the guidebooks though as, within 2 minutes of getting into town, I was sqealing like a pig in a sack as I realised my wallet was gone. I suppose I"ll never know if it was thieved or if I just lost it but, thanks to careful preparation and card splitting (cheers Lee!) I had one cash card left and copies of the relevant numbers stashed elsewhere so I could cancel the missing cards ASAP. I"d also like to convey my heartfelt thanks to Natwest for the most excellent hold music on their missing cards hotline.     

Anyway, crisis over, Otavalo was a laugh. Andy and I went to the markets (interesting in a markety kind of way and not as full of tat as I"d expected) and then, being Englishmen and strongly allergic to shopping, went drinking instead.

We happened upon a bar that promised live Andean folk music and, several beers down the line, were dragged onto the dancefloor by some local indigenous ladies of, shall we say, mature vintage for a bit of a shindig. It"s bloody hard dancing in walking shoes but the locals seemed to appreciate my unorthodox slidy feet technique (well they were pointing, laughing and snapping photos anyway).   

At the bar, we met Sandra, a Columbian lady with the dance moves of Shakira and a knack of winning arguments by sheer persistence. Arguments like - shall we have another drink or not? Yes we shall.

This persistence led me to a severe hangover on Sunday morning and whilst Andy went walking with Dirk Digler the Dynamic Dutchman to some random crater lake (it looked crap anyway, ahem) , I was still floundering in my pit. Later, forced to check out of the hostel, I took on water, tablets and , under the guidance of Sandra, a large slice of strawberry pie and icecream. Ecuador"s Pilsner comes in big bottles and it may be cheap, but you always pay the price in the end.       

I had high expectations of this trip but so far Ecuador is exceeding all expectations.  Everywhere you look, there is jaw dropping scenery.  Quito is surrounded by mountains, but the journey from Quito to Otavalo was even more impressive with mountains that you can´t see the top of due to them being above the clouds.  The locals are really friendly and although no-one knows any English, Dave and I are getting by ok.

Otavalo is famous for its Saturday market to which we went to.  The whole town becomes one big market with pretty much anything you want to buy on offer.  Its a shame that the visit is at the start of the holiday because the standard of craftmanship on almost every stall was incredible.  A complete range of smells as we wandered around from unknown herbs and spices, full hog roasts to rotting fruit and veg slowly cooking in the heat.  A great contrast to the big city of Quito but still with limitless character.  Every town has beautiful plazas that are immaculately kept.  Dave and I had our first proper night out and ended up being dragged on to the dance flor by 15 local middle aged indigenous women to dance the night away to pan pipes.  We were completely out of place being at least a foot taller than everyone else and the only white people in there but it added to the fun.

Today I did a 4 hour walk around the rim of a volcanic crater just outside of Otavalo (Laguna Cuicocha).  Dave was supposed to join me but was hung over so walked around with 6 others staying at our hostel.  Would fully recommend it to anyone and although a little challenging in parts (good practise for things to come), was fully justified by the views.  Two islands in the middle of turquoise lake.  Temperatures are hitting 30 so got a little burnt but still haven´t come close to Dave who is now peeling everwhere !!

Currently sitting in Ibarra and will explore briefly before continuing our travels up north to get our connection in to the jungle.

We got up early in Pasto and got on a bus to Ipailes which is right at the border between Colombia and Ecuador. We had heard from past travellers that Ipailes was a very unattractive town, and this was backed up by our Footprints guidebook - however on getting there we both agreed that it was far better than Pasto and also wasn´t as polluted either! We passed some fantastic scenery on the way down through a deep gorge. The landscape was much like the Canterbury region back home with barren hills and clear rivers. Really nice!

Once we arrived we got a taxi to the Santurary of the Virgin of Las Lajas, a large church built in the weirdiest place. I had seen pictures beforehand, but did not imagine it to be in the location it was. I expected there to be roads on either side, but instead it has been built at the bottom of a canyon (of the Guaitara River to be exact)! So bizarre! We still had our packs, and had to carry them the 15 mins down to the actual church itself from the road. The paths are lined with stall holders which are mostly selling religious artifacts and candles. We had many strange looks, they were probably thinking ´those stupid gringos!´

The church itself is very gothic in style, and very very beautiful. The inside is quite stunning also, although was too scared to take any pictures as there were so many people in there praying. We took turns at having a look around, while one of us looked after our bags. There were also lots of plaques on the walls leading to, and around the church which explained miracles the church is acclaimed for. There were so many and I wish we knew more Spanish to read some of them.

We then hiked all the way back up and caught another taxi for the border to Ecuador. The border itself is really strange. I guess we imagined that it would be barred up somehow, but infact it´s a road with police directing traffic and offices on either side. We got our exit stamps for Colombia and then walked over the border (which ísn´t really like a border in our opinion, its just a clister of shops and buildings together anyway) and got our entry stamps for Ecuador. No problems! It´s rather strange because while walking between the borders, there is big billboards, one welcoming you to Colombia and the other to Ecuador. There is also a farm, with the house on the Colombian side, and most of the farm and farm road on the Ecuadorian side. Interesting isn´t it?!

Another taxi ride later and we were at the bus terminal of Tulcan in Ecuador. We had barely got out of the taxi and had 2 guys asking where we were going, saying ¨Otavalo¨ they grabbed our bags from the boot and ran towards a bus rolling away. We hadn´t even paid the taxi driver yet! One of the people from the bus ended up doing so as the taxi driver didn´t have enough change for us (a common occurance in Ecuador so we have been told) and we ran and jumped on the moving bus. I guess this is one of the joys of being in South America - everyone wants to sell you something so therefore you are usually never lost for long and makes travelling a whole lot quickier and easier!

We arrived in Otavalo and got a taxi to the hostel which we found was full, so had to walk to another anyway. We grabbed something to eat and then went out to have a good look at the markets. As it was Saturday the streets were packed full of vendors. Plaza de Ponchos was full of stall holders, there is just too much to have a look at! We ended up buying some jumpers made from Alpaca wool, a decorated knife, and chess set. Another thing that struck us - people here speak some English! Amazing!

The Otavalo Indians are also everywhere, they are so beautifully dressed. The children look so cute aswell, they look very different to the average Colombian which is something we didn´t expect as we were only a few hours away from Colombia. However, crossing the border we felt a different atmosphere about Ecuador, the towns also look different and the way in which they dress is very different.

The markets comprise of bright colours, so pretty to look at. There are artifacts from all over Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in every colour you can imagine!!

We are off to the capital, Quito tomorrow. It is only 2 hours away so we will leave later as we need to have a good look around the markets once more!

Gringo Info

Money (based on 2 people)

Colombia side:

• Bus ticket Pasto - Ipiales $12,000 COP
• Taxi from Ipiales bus station to Las Lajas - $8,000 COP
• Taxi from Las Lajas to border with Ecuador - $15,000 COP

Ecuador side:

• Taxi from border to bus station - $3.50 USD
• Bus ticket from Tulcan to Otavalo - $6.00 USD
• Lunch - $5.00 USD
• Accommodation - $10.00 USD
• Shopping - $55.00 USD (ie Alpaca top $13.00 USD etc)

Total: $95.50 USD