On to Otavalo

Parque Simon Bolivar Otavalo, Ecuador

It is Carnaval in South America right now. The official day is March 5, but the festivities get started early. While it sounded like it could be fun to watch, it also sounded like it could be a bit of a mess, so I decided that I was going to stay at El Refugio one more day rather than head back into a city where the festivities were in full force. With that decision made, Peter and I took off for the usual morning hike into the cloud forest to see what we could find. Today’s hike was on a trail that hadn’t been used in a while and it was classic. Machete in hand, and Tokey in toe, we took off to climb to the top of one of the hilltops.

The hike didn’t fail to disappoint as we encountered some fallen branches courtesy of a recent landslide. No fear, the machete came in handy and we made it through, but it was kind of cool to have to truly chop our way through the trail.  The view from the top was beautiful. We sat for a while hoping some butterflies would come our way but only one today.

As we came back down the sun started to come out and I got the sense that I might be ready to move on after all. When visiting with Sandy on Saturday she encouraged me to try and visit the Amazon while in Ecuador and I was curious enough to see if I could make it happen. If it was going to happen I was going to have to get on the move so I let Peter know that I would be making the journey into Otavalo that afternoon. There was concern that the afternoon buses would be full 1) because of the holiday, 2) because it was Sunday and 3) just generally because it was the afternoon, but if they were I would just stay another night. (In hindsight it just seems like there’s a lot of assumptions about buses being full, but also that none of the expats have actually tried an afternoon bus anytime recently.)

View from the Bus Stop Santa Rosa, Ecuador

Once packed up, we made the ½ mile walk to the bus stop in Santa Rosa to try my luck. There is a lovely custom in Ecuador that when you arrive at a bus stop, you shake everyone’s hand at the stop. At first I thought it was just Peter being friendly, but as I waited for the bus and more people arrived, each one of them shared the greeting, even with me. Such a lovely tradition. As luck would have it, the bus came and most of the folks at the bus stop helped me wave it down and get on. Oddly, none of them got on the bus so in the end I have no idea what they were doing at the bus stop but they were so nice it didn’t really matter. And on to Otavalo I went.

While I had taken the bus into Intag through the elevation decline and super windy roads, I didn’t experience any discomfort, however, for some reason this ride was different. The bus was pretty full and I ended up in an aisle seat. It was lightly raining so there were no open windows and the twists and turns started to make me feel a little funny. I closed my eyes and imagined what exactly it would be like if this was the time I threw up on a bus. Thankfully deep breaths kept the problem away but not so much for the kid next to me. (The bus hands out bags in case you need them). Eventually it stopped raining and we were able to open a window and it was a huge relief. Arrived in Otavalo about an hour and a half after boarding and I was off to my Airbnb.

After my few disappointing taxi experiences I vowed not to take another taxi on the trip. While that is a nice goal, it is entirely impossible to achieve that on a trip in South America – so here I was about to try my new taxi skills in Otavalo – and to my surprise they worked! I got where I was going and paid a fair rate! The bummer was my Airbnb was really far outside of town. (The usual ‘10-

Miryan’s Place

15 minute walk’ in the description was probably more like 30 minutes and across a major road). I checked in nevertheless because the reviews for the host, Miryan, were so incredible that it seemed like a nice person to meet while traveling. Miryan was every bit as amazing as described, however the room, not so much. In addition to the location being pretty far out of town, it was also at the edge of a residential neighborhood and somewhere nearby there was a Carnaval celebration going as loud as it could. I asked Miryan about it and she said they had told her any guests that had a problem with the noise could go and party with them (I graciously declined though was a little intrigued if I’m honest) but otherwise it was the ‘indigenous’ having the party and there’s nothing anyone can do. (I will proceed to hear lots of references to the ‘indigenous’ during my time in Otavalo). So earplugs in, I make the best of it but let Miryan know I’m going to move on the next day.

Planning a last minute trip to the Amazon jungle is more difficult than I wanted to juggle so I decided to abandon that idea for now but was then left with needing a plan for the rest of the week. I don’t leave for Galapagos until Sunday and have six days to fill. In my first week I stayed at four different accommodations and decided I needed a slower week. The best idea I could come up with was to go back to Quito and take some Spanish lessons. Perhaps try a different neighborhood. I did some research, reached out to some places and thought I had a plan so I headed into Otavalo for what I thought was going to be a quick trip to the famous market and then on to Quito.

Mi desayuno!

What a surprise when I got into central Otavalo. It was incredibly walkable, inviting with public art all around, and great restaurants, shops and of course the famous Plaza de Ponchos market. I even ordered my first breakfast all in spanish! It wasn’t fancy but it was a win.

After walking around for about half an hour in the early morning I decided this would be a much better place to stay for a week than Quito. Miryan suggested a hostel in town called Hostal Riviera Sucre and I thought I would check it out while nearby. As soon as I did I was sold. Otavalo was going to be my home for the next week. Next project – find a Spanish school.