Otavalo, Ecuador

October 26th- October 28th

We arrived in Quito, Ecuador at 12:30 pm.  After going through immigration and claiming our luggage, we met up with our driver German. In tote were his traditional Ecuadorian parents - it was great to be greeted with smiles and an immediate taste of the culture. Unfortunately, our conversation was kept to a few phrases because of our limited, rusty Spanish. Our ride to Otavalo was 90 min. north up and down the mountains. After arriving and settling in to our hostel, we met up with Peter (a former Vermonter) for dinner who we had connected with the previous week.  Our 3:00 am wake up hit us hard and we went back to the hostel and crashed.  The sounds of the city were definitely upon us: dogs barking, car alarms going off, thin hostel walls and an early morning set up of the market across the street. We spent the next day getting acquainted with the city and finding some food Eli and Asa would eat. In the afternoon we took a taxi ride and then walked to Peguche Falls, a waterfall just out of town. We walked home, again just trying to take in the city and the Ecuadorian life bustling around us.  We found a couple of futbol fields, in hopes of getting some playing time in later this week.  Wednesday, Peter picked us up by 7am  and we headed off to Fuya Fuya Mountain.  It stands 4275 meters above sea level and gave us great views of the surrounding area.

On our balcony looking out at the famous Otavalo market.

An 8am start with Pete on a beautiful morning.

Taking a break.  Altitude kicked in a bit for us.

A Polyepis tree, the highest elevation of tree growth in the world.

A view of Volcán Cayambe. Notice the glacier covered top.  One Brad is hoping to climb.

We took a few shortcuts and followed the cattle trail up. It was a bit slippery as you can see!

Half way back looking at Laguna Grande de Mojanda (crater lake).

In the middle right under the clouds you can see the city of Otavalo where we are staying.

 

At the summit of Fuya Fuya

Driving back to Otavalo you can see Fuya Fuya in the far back right.

October 29th -31st

Hanging out in town for the day.  We played some soccer,  got some exercise at the park and had pizza at night.

Laguna de Cuicocha
We found a place to rent us bikes for the day- $8 each.  I guess you get what you pay for... We had to change the break pads before leaving (they were down to metal), adjusted the breaks so they weren't rubbing on the tire and had to use only half the gears along the way so the chain didn't fall off (we had to fix Asa's chain twice).  We road 20 km (12 miles) UP hill. It was a gradual uphill, but still made for a tough ride, luckily it was a fast easy ride on the way down.  Great views along the way and luckily the dogs were pretty mellow- except for the one chasing a motorcycle while running beside Eli and Brad.

A beautiful hotel we have been staying in for the past two nights. Definitely more expensive then we wanted, but why not splurge every once in awhile!

 

Saturday morning is a huge market day in Otavalo. It is the biggest market in Equador. Locals and tourists pour into the city for the day.