On the 23rd, Natura and I got up about 6:30 and always. We started walking through the village of La Calera and 7:00. It was a quite, little village just outside Cotacachi. This was a very interesting little village, as I hadn´t really seen how Ecuadoreans lived until then. They seem to live in small, brick houses. There is no insulation, as they don´t really need it, there are many houses with no windows and they are a little shady.
We were going to try to catch a bus to a little place called Apuela, from Otavalo, but all the buses were full for the rest of the day. We just sat around and relaxed for the day. We didn´t do a whole lot.
Showing posts with label Otavalo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Otavalo. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
22 Nov
What a day. Natura and I woke up and walked around a bit. We started by walking over to the animal market. This could potentially be a vegetarians worst nightmare. They were selling every animal, cows, sheeps, pigs, llamas, chickens, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, ducks, etc. I don´t want to forget that they were serving food there as well.
As we walked back into town, everybody was setting up for the Saturday market. Now, I had heard that it was big, big I would have never suspected the reality of it. This market was on every inch of street for about six blocks by six blocks. It was big! It gets kind of redundent though. Everybody is selling pretty much the same 10 things, paintings, pots, textiles, blankets, rugs, hammocks, jewerly, etc... It really reminded me of being in Afghanistan.
We met up with Michael and his school group for a bit and walked around and bought things for a while. They took off and it was about time to eat dinner.
While we were all up in Otavalo, Michael was staying with an Indigenous family. They were having a baptism in the family that night. Michael said he would call if we were invited to the party. He called.
While Natura and I were waiting for the call, we were actually eating and drinking at this place in town. This older lady came by and asked,"what do you guys want to eat?" in English. We were a little surprised when she spoke English. We asked where she was from and told us a story.
"Yeah, I´m from Fresno, CA. I got here back in ´75. I had some good drug dealer friends down in Colombia that I came to meet. After that, I thought I was going to New Zealand and ended up in Ecuador somehow. I just decided to stay."
With a story like that, your mind can only think of what she has done since and where she has been.
We had eaten dinner, about $5.00 between the two of us. Then we started drinking these drinks with lime, sugar and some kind of cane alcohol. We had seven between the two of us for a $1.00 each. About half way through them, a couple over heard us talking about Alaska. Come to find out, they are from Headley Alaska. We sat and talked for a bit and then we got our call. I asked the lady how much we owed her. She replied, "just give me $7.00." Not too bad for seven drinks and two free meals, eh?
Natura and I got on the bus headed for Cotocachi where the baptism was going on. We got to the church and found Michael and Aaron, as they weren´t hard to spot being the two tallest in the crowd. We sat through the baptism and hopped in the back of some family members trucks.
They took us about three or four miles to a village called La Calera. Things started out a little slow. It was a very interesting party. Frist, they serve the mother and the god mother. Then everyone else is served. Everyone was served This flour soup, with a chunk of chicken and potatoes in it. The main party was served cuy (guinea pig) with their soup. The second course was pork from a pig roast, they had roasted two pigs, potatoes and mote which is pretty much hominy. It was all quite delicious.
Some interesting things about the party were that there were probably twenty people there, maybe more and it was very quite. Also, everything had to be served to everyone on a platter. You couldn´t just hand something to someone.
About the time were finished with dinner, a truck backed up and unloaded two big subwoofers. Let the party begin! The music started and people started dancing. People don´t just drink there. Everyone walks around with a shot glass and a bottle of something. Some would have beer, some would have wine, others with champagne, and other yet with this hot liquor. Everyone gets throughly happy because it is rude to deny a shot. Someone said, if you don´t want to drink anymore, leave. So, was drank. Aaron thought it would be a great idea for he, Michael, Natura and I to get our own boxes of wine to give a little pay back, so, we did. We each got a different flavored box of wine, which is about like wine cooler and walked around. I had peach; Natura, strawberry; Michael, apple; and Aaron, some hot liquor.
Everybody became really happy, everyone was dancing, everyone was having a good time.
About 12:00, everyone took off. They invited us to just stay since it would have been crazy to go back to Otavalo that night.
Natura, Micahel and I attempted to sleep and three of us in a full bed together. I had the cold, brick wall, with a huge gap between the bed and the wall. I didn´t sleep so well. Not to mention, there was a rooster on the roof that started yelling about 1:30am. Dogs were getting in fights during the night as well. It didn´t make for a very good sleep.
As we walked back into town, everybody was setting up for the Saturday market. Now, I had heard that it was big, big I would have never suspected the reality of it. This market was on every inch of street for about six blocks by six blocks. It was big! It gets kind of redundent though. Everybody is selling pretty much the same 10 things, paintings, pots, textiles, blankets, rugs, hammocks, jewerly, etc... It really reminded me of being in Afghanistan.
We met up with Michael and his school group for a bit and walked around and bought things for a while. They took off and it was about time to eat dinner.
While we were all up in Otavalo, Michael was staying with an Indigenous family. They were having a baptism in the family that night. Michael said he would call if we were invited to the party. He called.
While Natura and I were waiting for the call, we were actually eating and drinking at this place in town. This older lady came by and asked,"what do you guys want to eat?" in English. We were a little surprised when she spoke English. We asked where she was from and told us a story.
"Yeah, I´m from Fresno, CA. I got here back in ´75. I had some good drug dealer friends down in Colombia that I came to meet. After that, I thought I was going to New Zealand and ended up in Ecuador somehow. I just decided to stay."
With a story like that, your mind can only think of what she has done since and where she has been.
We had eaten dinner, about $5.00 between the two of us. Then we started drinking these drinks with lime, sugar and some kind of cane alcohol. We had seven between the two of us for a $1.00 each. About half way through them, a couple over heard us talking about Alaska. Come to find out, they are from Headley Alaska. We sat and talked for a bit and then we got our call. I asked the lady how much we owed her. She replied, "just give me $7.00." Not too bad for seven drinks and two free meals, eh?
Natura and I got on the bus headed for Cotocachi where the baptism was going on. We got to the church and found Michael and Aaron, as they weren´t hard to spot being the two tallest in the crowd. We sat through the baptism and hopped in the back of some family members trucks.
They took us about three or four miles to a village called La Calera. Things started out a little slow. It was a very interesting party. Frist, they serve the mother and the god mother. Then everyone else is served. Everyone was served This flour soup, with a chunk of chicken and potatoes in it. The main party was served cuy (guinea pig) with their soup. The second course was pork from a pig roast, they had roasted two pigs, potatoes and mote which is pretty much hominy. It was all quite delicious.
Some interesting things about the party were that there were probably twenty people there, maybe more and it was very quite. Also, everything had to be served to everyone on a platter. You couldn´t just hand something to someone.
About the time were finished with dinner, a truck backed up and unloaded two big subwoofers. Let the party begin! The music started and people started dancing. People don´t just drink there. Everyone walks around with a shot glass and a bottle of something. Some would have beer, some would have wine, others with champagne, and other yet with this hot liquor. Everyone gets throughly happy because it is rude to deny a shot. Someone said, if you don´t want to drink anymore, leave. So, was drank. Aaron thought it would be a great idea for he, Michael, Natura and I to get our own boxes of wine to give a little pay back, so, we did. We each got a different flavored box of wine, which is about like wine cooler and walked around. I had peach; Natura, strawberry; Michael, apple; and Aaron, some hot liquor.
Everybody became really happy, everyone was dancing, everyone was having a good time.
About 12:00, everyone took off. They invited us to just stay since it would have been crazy to go back to Otavalo that night.
Natura, Micahel and I attempted to sleep and three of us in a full bed together. I had the cold, brick wall, with a huge gap between the bed and the wall. I didn´t sleep so well. Not to mention, there was a rooster on the roof that started yelling about 1:30am. Dogs were getting in fights during the night as well. It didn´t make for a very good sleep.
Friday, November 21, 2008
21Nov
This morning Natura and I woke up about 06:00. We headed out about 07:00 and walked around the town somemore. We checked out the food market. Boy, these food markets will make you think twice about what food satitation is. Everybody is selling fruit, veggies, grains, everything. That´s not to include the butchers. Num, num seeing huge chunks of meat hanging all day. Seeing chicken piled high with no refrigeration. So many interesting things are excited to be seen at the market.
After we walked around the market, we went to a bakery and got a few patries for a hike we were planning on doing. We took what they call a camíoneta to this area. A camíoneta is prety much a taxi. You tell them where you want to go, negotiate a price and hop in the back of their truck. We settled on $10.00 for him to take us about 17km up the side of this mountains where we did our hike.
The ride up this mountain was so amazing. You are sitting in the back of this truck seeing where you have been. Riding up this stone road that seemed rather endless, you couldn´t help but to be struck by the beauty of the Andes. It also seemed strange that the road would even be there. I mean, it was stone the whole way up this mountain.
Our camíoneta came to a stop in the middle of nowhere next to this lake high in the mountains. We started hiking on this, now dirt road around these lakes and mountains. We thought we were going to do a 3.9km hike, but instead it turned out being a 14.4km hike. It was still great. We walked and walked and came to a turn that went a long way up this mountain. When we got to the top, there was a sign that read, 3.981m (13,061ft).
When we arrived back to our start, there was another camíoneta waiting for a few other hikers. We got a ride down the mountain, back to the city for $5.00.
When we got back to town, we looked for a nice little hole in the wall place to have almuerso. Yup, another great $1.50 meal that filled us up. Once we finished that, we went back to the hostal, and I took a nap.
After we walked around the market, we went to a bakery and got a few patries for a hike we were planning on doing. We took what they call a camíoneta to this area. A camíoneta is prety much a taxi. You tell them where you want to go, negotiate a price and hop in the back of their truck. We settled on $10.00 for him to take us about 17km up the side of this mountains where we did our hike.
The ride up this mountain was so amazing. You are sitting in the back of this truck seeing where you have been. Riding up this stone road that seemed rather endless, you couldn´t help but to be struck by the beauty of the Andes. It also seemed strange that the road would even be there. I mean, it was stone the whole way up this mountain.
Our camíoneta came to a stop in the middle of nowhere next to this lake high in the mountains. We started hiking on this, now dirt road around these lakes and mountains. We thought we were going to do a 3.9km hike, but instead it turned out being a 14.4km hike. It was still great. We walked and walked and came to a turn that went a long way up this mountain. When we got to the top, there was a sign that read, 3.981m (13,061ft).
When we arrived back to our start, there was another camíoneta waiting for a few other hikers. We got a ride down the mountain, back to the city for $5.00.
When we got back to town, we looked for a nice little hole in the wall place to have almuerso. Yup, another great $1.50 meal that filled us up. Once we finished that, we went back to the hostal, and I took a nap.
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.
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.
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