Nostros salimos manana en la manana a Banos.
We jumped in a cab from our Hostel in Quito towards the bus station 1 hr away on route to Otavalo a town two hours north. Once we arrived at the bus station we had to find the bus to Otavalo. It wasn’t too hard as there were men screaming OTAVALO OTAVALO OTAVALO!, we paid the whole $2.00 and got on the bus. The ride to Otavalo was quite stunning, the country side is filled with large green covered mountains with houses or farms sporadically placed. One part of the trip that was amusing was that at every stop someone selling food would get on and walk down the bus then sit until the next stop and get off. We didn’t buy anything but we now know for next time! Getting off at a stop not at the station is also pretty interesting, the bus slows down to a roll then the people have to jump out, they don’t fully stop. It would be difficult for us to do that with our big bags so hopefully our stops are always full ones. After we arrived in Otavalo we loaded up our bags and walked to the first hostel that had vacancies. It was pretty nice, hammocks in the court yard, breakfast included, comfy beds, and close to the market, which was our first priority. We stayed there for three nights (Friday-Sunday). Friday evening we strolled through the city checking out the market and restaurants. Saturday morning we woke up around 8:00am and went to the restaurant for the continental breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised that we had three different options to choose from. We both picked the pancake with fruit and chocolate with coffee. It was yummy and loaded with fruit! We then headed out to the market. Wednesdays and Saturdays are the main market days so the place was booming. There were venders throughout all the roads connecting to the main plaza. It was amazing! There was so much stuff to look at and buy. The Otavalo market is very old and very famous, people come from all over the area to shop. A large portion of the products were hand made by indigenous people. There was tons of stuff made from alpaca: hats, scarves, and ponchos with a huge range in colours. Every booth seemed to also have a huge selection of handmade bracelets. We found two different booths that had unique handmade woven bracelets. One had a man making the jewelry right then out of cow horn, cow bone, and a type of tree. I bought a bracelet made from cow horn! We were really impressed how the people packed up at the end of the day. They loaded sacks that were approximately 5 ft by 3.0 ft (larger than the average person here) then strapped them to their back using rope tied around their forehead. We complain about our 30lb bags while they carry loads over 100lbs tied around their head. We had lots of fun throughout the market then went back to the hostel and laid in the hammocks and read...so relaxing. Sunday we woke up, ate then headed out to our tour that we booked on Saturday. Our guide, Washington, is a local guide who lives in Otavalo and has been doing tours for many years in the area. We were expecting there to be other people on the tour but we were the only ones going. Our first stop was to the amazing Peguche Falls. A short hike brought us up from an indigenous village to the falls where we stayed and embraced the mist of the falls. Washington told us stories of how the indigenous culture revered the falls and how every year a festival brings thousands of people to the falls in the middle of the night for a ritual cleansing. We had our own cleansing while standing in the misty wake of the falls and it was my (Drew`s) second shower of the day, believe it or not. After the falls we were off to the breathtaking volcano crater lake, Laguna Cuicocha. On our way out of Otavalo our guide spotted three friends that he attended school with two years ago and he asked if we would mind if they came along for the ride. The more the merrier we said, and the three girls hopped in the truck with us. They were all very friendly, spoke English and wanted to take Cou and I to the bar for cervesas. The ride to the lake lookout was bumpy and steep and was followed by a short hike from the roadway to the lookout. Laguna Cuicocha is a 3km wide crater lake that sits at the foot of the Cotocachi Volcano in the Andes. Years ago, the volcano that once stood where Laguna Cuicocha is now was once one of the highest volcanoes in Ecuador until it erupted in massive phreatic fashion 3100 years ago. Kabooooom! After our little tour of Laguna Cuicocha we visited the little town of Cotacachi for a short walking tour where we met a little old man in an even older army uniform. We waved goodbye to our geriatric friend and continued on to an indigenous musical instrument making home, where we were showed how the locals would fashion flutes out of bamboo. We also got to listen to some pretty good folk songs courtesy of our guide and the flute maker. That pretty much sums up our tour of the Otavalo area. We spent the afternoon tying up a few loose ends and eating a pollo completo sandwich (a three layer breaded chicken sandwich with ham, fried egg, cheese, tomatoes, onions, mayo, mustard and of course bacon). Cou wasn`t exactly thrilled.
Nostros salimos manana en la manana a Banos.
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After arriving in Miami airport we walked to the LAN desk which was closed because we were too early to check in. We then walked outside to the beautiful and warm Miami air. It was so amazing feeling the warm sunny air on our pale white faces. We both were so excited and happy that we were finally on our way to Quito! We also agreed that we both love warm weather in January. Our landing in Quito was like an action movie… sort of. We were in clouds thicker than molasses and in an instant we came out of them, barely clearing city buildings at a blistering speed in our 767. At first we thought it wasn’t right but sure enough the Boeing cleared the last of the shanties and landed on the runway and threw its engines into full reverse to bring us to a stop before we ran into the shanties at the other end of the runway. We breezed through customs (in fact I don’t think the customs agent asked us anything other than if this was our first time to Ecuador) and we met our taxi who had a sign that read ‘Courtacey Felton’. Close enough I guess! We hoped in and were immediately amazed at the lack of traffic rules. First off, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way; secondly, speed limits and traffic signage are only suggestions. Motorists rip through city streets narrowly missing each other and the bigger you are the more authority you have on the road. Oddly enough, we haven’t noticed any vehicles with dents or scratches. Police ride doubles on dirt bikes and when an ambulance has its sirens blaring you’re lucky if you can get behind it to help speed you through the city. Anyway, our hostel, the L’Auberge Inn, is beautiful and clean. Our room is quite large and we have a private bathroom, but there is no heat, just heavy blankets. The hostel also has a kitchen, a travel agency, free wi-fi (hence why we are blogging right now), a restaurant and most importantly a bar ($1.60 for a pint). The atmosphere is warm and welcoming and we would recommend this place to anyone travelling to Quito, old or young, fussy or careless. Our first day walking around Quito was great! When we were preparing to leave our hostel we were a little scared at what we might encounter. We strolled around the part of Quito known as the old town. It’s an area filled with churches, covenants, chapels and monasteries that was built centuries ago. It was also filled with people! We were trying to figure out who was at work? We had lunch at a place called Montserrat and had help from a family from Ibarra who asked us to come and visit them! Our second day in Quito we strolled throughout a beautiful park with clean walking and bike paths, lots of newly trimmed and raked grass areas, and playgrounds for children. There were lots of people out and about enjoying the nice weather and sunshine. We then continued into another part of Quito called La Mariscal (New Town) which was very different than the area we were in the day before. New town has lots of tourist stores, café’s, classy restaurants, bars, and lots of other tourists (Gringos). The main street Av Amazonas is lined with travel agencies advertising trips to the Galapagos, and the Amazon. We ate at a nice Greek restaurant and had Gyro’s which were yummy! We then headed back to the hostel where we met a Spanish teacher and had a 1 hr long Spanish lesson. It was really helpful but we’ll definitely need lots of practice. We are thinking of taking lessons again more consistently for 1-2 weeks so we’re more comfortable speaking to the locals. Our third day in Quito we met another Canadian couple from Calgary at our hostel and decided to venture out together to the equator on the local bus. We walked to a bus station and asked how to get to Mitad Del Mundo (the town at the equator), they said to get on the next bus and stay on it until the main station, then transfer to a second bus that will take us to the actual town. The bus was a like being on a rollercoaster, it was so long that when it went over bump or hills you would get tickle tummy. It was really fun and a great way to see the city, bonus it only cost $0.40 each to get there and $2.00 to get into the complex. Mitad Del Mundo is set in a beautiful valley surrounded by large grass covered hills. It was neat being at the equator and fun taking silly pictures over the line marking the two hemispheres. Around the Globe monument that marks the equator are little shops and restaurants where we ate a fried pollo lunch. I (Cou) had a tasty pineapple banana naturale, which is a freshly squeezed fruit drink, it was so good! After we toured around for a bit, we took a different bus back into town. The bus climbed high along the edges of city so that we overlooked it. The sprawl of houses up the mountains surrounding the city was incredible. It was like someone decided to build in an area and then everyone else followed, except they all built on top of each other. In the evening we had dinner with a nice lady from Winnipeg who just bought a condo in Otavalo (2 hours north of Quito by bus). She was up here finalizing the purchase of her condo and buying some furniture from the local wood-workers. It’s been a blast so far. Today we’re off to Otavalo… We arrived in Toronto on January 11th and were greeted by Cou’s Dad and his wife Wendy. Cou’s Dad was going in for pretty major back surgery on the 12th so we decided to spend an evening with him before heading out to Winona in Niagara’s Wine Country. Winona is a peaceful little slice of heaven in the green belt of Southern Ontario, and it’s where Cou’s Mom (Judy) and Grandparents live! For the first week we travelled between Toronto and Winona helping Cou’s Dad out after his surgery and Cou’s mom with her Grandparents. The first week in Southern Ontario was busy because we were trying to visit all our friends and family. The second week we spent time more time relaxing and visiting with Judy and Cou’s grandparents. We picked up the last few items, organized our stuff into our ebags (so far very helpful with keeping everything organized) and started to anticipate the big adventure. Our last weekend was packed full of fun! It started with a party at Cou’s brother’s girlfriend’s (Jackie’s) house. Jackie hosted an awesome going away party at her apartment in Hamilton for us, thanks Jackie! We drank, played games, danced, then had a big sleepover! On Saturday Cou’s cottage family came to Winona for a huge Spaghetti dinner and send off, there was 13 of us for dinner! Then on Sunday we drove back to Toronto to Cou’s Dad house for another great send-off dinner. It was nice we got to see everyone, our time in Southern Ontario was great! We had lots of late night visits, laughs, drinks, and exciting farewells. We want to thank everyone for fitting our visits into your busy schedules, it meant a lot to us and we will miss you all. Cou: We departed from Edmonton on December 29th and arrived in Red Lake after a long but fun drive from Winnipeg, Manitoba where our flight from Edmonton arrived. Ideally we would have flown from Winnipeg to Red Lake but as the airlines hold a monopoly in the area the prices have skyrocketed to a level equivalent to a down payment on a house. Although the drive was long, Andrew's mom was great company and our conversations made the drive fly by. Cou: The day after we arrived in Red Lake we were invited by Drew’s friends to go ice fishing at their fly out fishing camp in Snake Falls (approximately 40 minutes South of Red Lake). What an amazing experience! When we arrived and parked we crossed over a bridge connecting the road to their island where their beautiful house and camp sits. After a quick visit we suited up to go fishing! Expecting to walk out on the ice to a small cold hut filled with the smell of fish we suited up in the warmest clothes we brought. To my surprise we jumped onto snowmobiles and sped down the lake to a HUGE fishing hut with a teepee set up next to it acting as an outhouse. We then went inside and saw it was nothing that I had expected. The fishing hut was closer in size to a small apartment than a hut. It had a mini kitchen (with all the fixings for a delicious fish fry), table and chairs, stereo, coolers filled with drinks, and the best of all a wood stove! The “hut” also had 6 fishing lines with poles fixed to wheels and bells attached used for signaling the people “fishing”. We all sat around playing cards laughing and enjoying our time on the lake. It was quite the day! I caught a small walleye while Drew caught Zilch! Drew: That was one of many adventures during our short trip to Red Lake. On new years eve one of the local bars, the Balmer, was having a new years bash so we went there with a bunch of my friends. It was awesome! Thanks Morgan, Dan, Miriam, Harriet, Frosty and Syl for a great start to 2012! Needless to say that I drank too much and spent new years day hungover on the couch. We spent a few days out at the skating rink playing hockey and a couple days racing our crazy carpets down “hospital hill” and Cochenour hill with Mike and Crystal and Mia! We also spent some time hangin out with my friend Harriet and her mom Enid and my other friend Gill over at Harriet’s house. It was awesome and if you have time you need to check out Enid’s blog about Red Lake. It’s a great read whether you’re from there or are just looking for an entertaining story about the great white north! The balance of our time was spent enjoying home cooked meals and great company. In what seemed like the blink of an eye my Mom and Dad drove us out of town to catch the Greyhound to Winnipeg where we would fly to Toronto for the next, and final, part of our little jaunt in Canada. It was a really nice send off. Cou and I both had a great time in Red Lake and can’t wait to be back for our next visit. We’re going to miss everyone a lot while we’re away! |
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