The Indigenous Market Town of Otavalo

Our search for sunny skies and warm temperatures certainly have not come to reality in Otavalo but that aside, it is a delightful town. It is a very wealthy town, funded mostly by a world famous market, run by the local indigenous people. It is active every day of the week but on Saturdays it is enormous and spreads out into the adjoining streets. And tour busses with occupants from all over the world arrive and the locals are experts at negotiating them out of their money. We visited this town a couple of times we think 11 years ago and there has been a huge change in the infrastructure of the village. They have used their wealth wisely.


We had gotten a tip of a very nice hostal in Otavalo so upon arrival, we got a taxi to take us there. It is 4 km from the town and most of those kms were up. So instead of being at 3000m in the town we were at 3300 m at the hostal and it is hard to believe but there was at least 5 degrees C difference in the temperature. This is the path to our cabin and here it looks very nice but when it is dark and it is pouring rain and the water is running down the path it was not so nice.
And this is what was at the end of the path, our home for one night.
Here is the main lodge of the complex but no sun to enjoy the hammocks.
The view in front of our cabin.


This fireplace was in our room and there was some dry wood outside the door and we tried for a long time to light a fire but both the wood and the paper were so damp from the rain and humidity that it just would not light. We sure could have used some gasoline. A couple who were staying there also got their fire going but said all the heat went up the chimney so was a bit useless.

This is Emma, the child of the owners of the hostal. She will grow up not knowing what was her first language as her father is a Scot and her mom is Ecuadorian.It was just too cool for us up that mountain so the next day we moved down to Otavalo.
This lady is only about 1.2m tall and we saw many people, both men and women just as short as she was. There must be a short gene in the population.
Just one corner of a very busy market. The market is not a food market but a crafts market, filled with very beautiful weavings, art and jewelry, all made by the locals. It is easy to look after your child if you run a stall in the market. Just plunk him down in the middle of everything.

This is one thing that has not changed over the years. What a great way to carry your baby and save money on strollers as well. The typical dress of this particular indigenous group. It is very striking.
And this child is using mom's ears as a steering wheel. A street scene in Otavalo.
The central park is very beautiful, particularly with all the rain they have had.

We are leaving here tomorrow, to another famous Ecuadorian town called Baños. It is much lower in altitude than Otavalo and should be much warmer.

Snow On the Equator

Our location in Ecuador is about 30 minutes north of the Equator. For the past 3 days that we have been in Otavalo, it has been quite cold and rainy and we have not seen the sun or the surrounding mountains because of heavy cloud. Last night there was a huge rain storm and this morning, the hostess of our hotel came to us all excited and told us to go to the roof and look at the sourrounding mountains. And lo and behold, this is what we saw. Snow on the tops of three of the mountains. She has been here for 15 years and it was the first time she has seen this. It is amazing, realizing we are right on the Equator. We are hoping the sun will stay out for a few days so we can enjoy the warmth of the equator!!!!!!!

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Protest in Colombia, A Parade in Ecuador

On a previous blog we wrote about some struggles Colombia was having with its neighboring countries, Venezuela and Ecuador.

On our last day in Pasto Colombia, we heard lots of noise coming from a couple of streets away so Nancy and I went to investigate. It was students, many, many students, maybe 500 or more protesting, not the fact that Hugo Chavez was sticking his nose into a struggle between Colombia and Ecuador but the very fact that their own government had the audacity to invade a neighbouring country to capture and kill Farc guerillas in the first place and totally ignoring international law.
And what was wonderful about it was the fact that they were allowed to have this protest. There were many police around but none of the riot gear we had shown previously. It was all very peaceful and lasted a couple of hours.


There was no tear gas but she was prepared.


At the end of the march, the students put on a play that was ridiculing the Uribe government and its lack of human rights.

The next day we changed countries, moving from Colombia to Ecuador, a big day as we travelled all the way from Pasto to Ipiales at the border in Colombia and after crossing the border we were in Tulcan Ecuador. We still had time to go a little farther so hopped on a bus heading for Ibara and once again, upon arriving we heard noise and music coming from a few streets away that drew us to witness a grand parade.


Not mounties but the uniform sure is similiar. We think it is firemen, rescue workers etc. We were pretty tired when we arrived here yesterday so we think we will take an extra day before we move on to Otavalo and right now plan to spend a few days there.

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More of Popayan then on to Pasto

We liked Popayan a whole lot and ended up spending 10 days there. Our first 7 days were in a hotel right on the central park and the last 3 days we went to a hostal, not because we were broke but Nancy needed some books, and we wanted to visit with other travellers of which there were many.

The hostal was pretty new and really quite lovely. This is the main reception area.
Here is one of the two computors that are available for use.
The lady in the middle is the co-owner, from Scotland, and 25 years old. Her name is Kim and we liked her a lot as did the other hostal guests.
And the other co-owner and the partner of Kim is Tony. Also well liked by all who were there and also 25 years and from Scotland.
He is Mike, from London Ontario, who is a brick layer until he has enough money to travel. He too is younger than any of our children but we spent a lot of time visiting with him. Nice guy.

This is Eddie, a Scot that we met first at the hostal in Salento and here he is again. He is pretty laid back and not ready to go back to Scotland any time soon. We have mentioned in a previous blog about the fact that the buildings in the center of the city need to be whitewashed in preparation for Semana Santa. We see many brushes, rollers and brooms to achieve this task and occasionally we see this. . It is 1/4 inch nylon rope, looped many times, tied together and then frayed. This type of brush just keeps getting shorter and shorter and shorter until the job is done. The same project only a different building.
A pretty street after a mornings walk.

We had to go pretty high in the mountains, over the clouds and through lots of rain. We just love the green countryside and this year may be a bit more green than usual as there is more rain than normal.
We see things like this often from the window of the bus. Here they are stacking wood to dry and good luck on getting it to dry. It could be for sale or for personal use and no chain saws in sight.
Here is a partial photo that is suppose to show a place in the road that had caved in and lost 1/2 of the road. We were glad we were not driving on it when it gave way. This was caused by the excess of rain they have had this year. Sometimes we see landslides the other way, they slide onto the road and we went through one section where they had had to clear a path through a slide so traffic could continue. It is the Pan American highway and it must be kept open. Ron gets to choose what bus we ride and and this time his choice was not very good. We were right in the back seats, quite cramped in this very crowded mini bus. The trip was 5.5 hours long.
If you make the photo larger you will see small trails leading to the farms on the hillsides.

Tomorrow we are on our way to Ipales in Colombia and will cross the border into Ecuador and hope to make it as far as Otavalo before we run out of steam.

Floods, Volcanos, Wars and Flowers

Confusing title???? A few blogs ago we talked about some danger of going into Ecuador because of floods, and a volcano close to Baños, a town that we wish to visit. It seems these dangers have lessened as the rains have calmed and there are no red alerts in the areas surrounding the Volcano.
But, there has been an incident that is causing us other concerns. A few days ago, the Colombian Army entered Ecuadorian territory, without the permission of the Ecuadorian government, to kill a leader of the FARC, the rebel group in Colombia and 15 other FARC soldiers. They were successful but needless to say and rightfully so, the Ecuadorian government, was most indignant and pulled their ambassador from Colombia and has moved some troops to the border.
This in itself is not a huge problem, as for Ecuador to invade Colombia is something akin to Canada invading the US, as Ecuador is very small and has a military to match. The Colombian military is huge, well equpped, and well trained, thanks in part to Plan Colombia, a huge US funded program to try to eliminate the coco production in Colombia.
But what is worrying, is along the border of Colombia that it shares with Venezuela. The ruler of Venezuela, Chavez, is a bit of a loose cannon, and along that border, the rumor is, he openly allows sanctuary for the soldiers of FARC in his country. He also has a big mouth and has threatened to go to war with Colombia if Colombian soldiers dare set foot on his territory and he has moved 6000 Venezuelan soldiers to this border. Things are a bit tense in Colombia, as no one knows for sure exactly what he will do and everyone hopes that cooler heads will prevail and life will just go on.
We have no photos of the floods or the volcano or the war so instead we offer you these photos of beautiful flowers that we have stopped to smell along the way and from a country whose people match the beauty of the flowers.

The White City

The name of the city is Popayan and for about 8 square blocks in the center of the city, all the buildings are painted white. Not only that, by law, they have to repaint them white every year, just before Easter time. So needless to say there is much activity in the center of town with scaffolding everywhere. It is really very beautfiul and come Easter time there will be flowers hanging from all the balconies. We don't plan to be here at Easter time but it might be interesting as during the week previous Easter, Popayan has the second biggest Samana Santa celebrations in the world, the largest being in Seville in Spain. People come from all over the world to celebrate in Popayan and prices escalate. Our hotel that we are paying about $27 for right now costs about $200 a night for that week. It is good value at $27 but not so at the inflated price of $200.

Our hotel really is not as spiffy as this picture makes it out to be, but we have a huge room with comfortable beds and a hot water shower most of the days.
This fine gentleman from England had been riding this motor cycle for 20 months in various parts of the world and here in the lobby of our hotel, it is time for an oil change. Amazing things that happen in Latin America. Can you imagine asking a hotel in North America if you could bring your motor cycle in the lobby so as to be out of the rain to change the oil? We most enjoyed his company but he had to be on his way after day one for us.

Our second day in Popayan, there was quite a large and peaceful Indigenous protest that circled the central park and shouted slogans that dealt with justice and liberty. As we get nearer the Ecuadorian border, the Indigenous population is much larger than in the rest of Colombia.
Just more of the protest parade. There were probably 1000 people or more.
But close by and on every corner of the central park, were riot police in case things got out of hand. They were not really too serious as when I was taking this photo from our hotel window, they shouted at me and wanted me to come down and don their riot gear and join the fun. They also had great fun flirting with the girls going by.
We have sent many photos of central pàrks but the one in Popayan is especially beautiful and easy to obtain a shady bench.
A much older and much small bridge, crossing the same river as the one that is in a picture that is below.

We have many pictures of the white buildings but they all look the same so you only get this one.
Nancy needed her teeth cleaned so we located a dentist, made an appointment for the next day and 30 minutes and $15 later, her teeth were sparkly clean.
There are many of these in Latin America. It is a machine that squeezes the sugar cane juice from the sugar cane. They run it through cheese cloth and sell it on the street to drink.
Just a very old and pretty bridge that crosses a small river in Popayan.
And this is a park that was on the banks of the river.

Popayan is pretty flat and Nancy and I like that a whole lot. Maybe that is one of the reasons that we have been here a week and will be here a few more days before we move on. We have been trying not to rush from place to place on this journey, and so far we have been reasonably successful.

It looks as if the weather is improving in Ecuador so at this moment we do think we will travel in Ecuador for the last few weeks before we return home.