20 Nov

Yesterday I came to Otavalo. It´s a little town of approx. 50,000 people about a hour and a half north of Quito. A large portion of that is actually indigenous people. They are supposed to have one of the largest, if not the largest, indigenous markets in the world. Many of their prducts include hats, mittens, textiles and other hand crafted things.

I got a ride up with Michael´s class because they were coming up here for some study thing. This is he first trip I have actually taken outside the city. It is quite interesting, I must say. Not to mention, I get to hang out with Michael´s girlfriend, Natura, who is also here just hanging out.

Yesterday I didn´t do a whole lot other than check in to a little hostal, Hostal María, which is running me about $5.50 a night. It is situated about two blocks from downtown. I also walked around the town a bit to get a feel for it.

Natura showed up about 17:00 amd we caught up a bit it as it has been nearly two years since when last saw each other. Once she got here, we walked around somemore and looked for somewhere to eat. The great thing about Ecuador is that they have this lunch deal called "almuerzo", and dinner which is called "merienda". Both are set meals and typically include soup, a meat, rice, some veggies and a glass of juice. This nice little meal will run you about $1.50.