To Otavalo and Beyond …

 

                  This blog is for Susan, Amber and Jeff and their respective families

Having left Quito around mid-afternoon, we arrived in Otavalo just on dark and then there was the fun of trying to find our Hostal. Generally, Ecuadorians seem to rely on intuition and asking other people, rather than using a map. The ability to read or use a map here is by no means as common as in Aus.

After driving around a bit, we parked in a side street near the Otavalo market which is located at La Plaza de Los Ponchos (very appropriate, although they don’t just sell ponchos). While our driver and her companion went walkabout to ask people how to find our Hostal, we were fascinated to watch the packing up from the market. The market is held every day and is packed up each day! Groan! (Ecuadorians generally may not be able to read a map, but they sure do work hard!) It’s mainly a fabric/textiles-based market – blanket, scarves, shawls, ponchos, jumpers (sweaters – we are getting used to having to translate our English from Aus into U.S/Canadian, but then, they are also learning our Aussie words, too!), fabric bags, rugs, etc, plus assorted handicrafts. It’s enough to make one drool in anticipation!!

We were watching one particular man who seemed to be the go-to guy if you wanted your market stock carried and stored overnight. He would hoist a large full rectangular sack (nearly as long as he was tall) of market goods onto his back, with a strap onto his forehead to help carry the weight, and stagger with it to a nearby building, where he set it down inside and came back for another one. This went on for a while, and we just sat marvelling at the stamina of the local people.

After a bit, Daisy and Paulette came back, and it turned out that our Hostal was literally just around the corner (50 metres) from where we’d been waiting in the van, so that was pretty handy.

TRAIN AND SALINAS

The next day, we had a train to catch. We drove about half an hour out of Otavalo to a place called Ibarra. There are a few restored railways in Ecuador, and this was one of them. Somehow I expected some sort of steam train, but this was more like a bus (only one carriage) that ran on railway tracks.

The train

We left the town of Ibarra, first passing lush areas where all sorts of vegies grew and continued downhill all the way to a place called Salinas, about an hour and a half away by not-very-fast train (not to be confused with the town of Salinas on the coast) but a whole lot quicker by road. As we went down, it got warmer and drier until we got to Salinas itself.

The outskirts of Ibarra                                             They used to grow cotton here

Between Ibarra and Salinas, from the train

A couple of the tunnels cut into the hillside to let the train through

 

As part of the train experience, there was a dance given by locals when we arrived at the station.

Train station at Salinas

 

Salinas

Salinas is a bit unique in that it is populated by Afro-Ecuadorians, the descendants of slaves. Apparently the name Salinas comes from the fact that in the past they used to extract salt from the soil by a pretty laborious process. They have a tiny museum there which explained how they did it. That and a gift shop near the station seemed to be the only points of interest. Salinas is not a very big place, and not very inspiring. It was dry and rather desert-like. We couldn’t work out what would happen there or why anyone would live there other than the little bit of tourism that comes from the train going there daily.

 

OTAVALO MARKET

The Saturday market at Otavalo is even bigger than during the week, as they close off the side streets surrounding the Plaza and it is all taken up with stalls with goods for sale. On Friday night, the manager of our Hostal had advised Daisy to park the van a couple of blocks away, as by morning the street our Hostal was in would be transformed from a road to a market place and it would be too late to get the van out.

We were out and about early (maybe 8.30/9am) on Saturday while some stalls were still setting up. It was a good time to go, as although the market is open all day, it gets busier later. And you are more likely to get a good price early in the day, as apparently there is a superstition/tradition that a sale early in the day will set you up for a good day’s trade.

We had planned to get something to use for curtains, as most houses/apartments for rent here including ours, don’t come with curtains. (If your house/apartment has curtain rods, you’ve done well.) Some of our friends here found that rather than buying curtain material or ready-made curtains, you could buy brightly printed and patterned pieces of fabric, (often used as table-cloths) and use those instead. So, with that possibility in mind, we had measured our windows and brought a tape measure with us. I’m not sure what the little indigenous women thought when I got them to hold one end of the tape measure and one corner of whatever fabric/rugs, etc they had, while I measured up to the other end. Most things fell short by about 10 cm, and the ladies were very helpful and eager to rummage through their stock to find something bigger. It makes it hard to say no when someone has tried so hard to help you.

In the end, we decided to get some alpaca/synthetic blankets to use for curtains. They are lovely and soft and come in the most beautiful colours, and when we get cold in winter, we can just jump up on a chair, get them down off the window and wrap up in them!

At the Otavalo market the advantage is definitely with the buyer, as so many of the stalls have the same stock, and if someone won’t give it to you for the price you want, someone else probably will. Having said that, there seems to be quite a bit of co-operation and community spirit among the stall-holders. At one stall, we were trying to get 2 blankets with the same colours for a large window (the window that was 10cm too big), and after the stall holder and wife (in indigenous clothing complete with baby on her back – very cute!) had looked through all their stock, he said “un momento” and took off, presumably to a friend at another stall, and came back with two matching blankets. The stall-holders are very willing to accommodate and be helpful, which is nice. And, of course, it helps with sales.

 

Otavalo market

 

Before we left for the market, Paulette had taught us some useful words in Quichuan (the indigenous language) (such as, “alli punlla” good morning, “mashna vale” how much is the cost, and “kaya kama”, goodbye – these words are pronounced as you would say them in Spanish) as she said it would make the stall-holders happy and also get us better prices. (The indigenous people and language are somewhat looked down upon by many of the non-indigenous Ecuadorians.) I used a couple of Quichuan words with one old lady from whom we bought something, and she seemed pleased and friendly and rattled on in Spanish (or was it Quichua?), so I felt the need to tell her we only had “un poco” (a little) Quichua, “un poco” Spanish but “mucho” English. She didn’t seem put out, but continued to try to interest us in other goods she had for sale.

I took some photos of the market (which of course doesn’t do it justice), and of a couple of women at their stalls, wearing local dress (I bought a lovely wool/cotton shawl from one of them for $9). I asked them first, and they were happy to have their photos taken. Later, I saw a lady at her stall hand-embroidering a blouse that the indigenous women wear in the Otavalo area, and I asked if I could take her photo, but she declined. That was disappointing but understandable, after all, who wants to be a living tourist attraction?

The lady I bought a shawl from, with her baby

 

Our friends had discovered the part of the market where you could buy articles of indigenous clothing, eg, the woven, patterned ribbon with which the women bind their hair, and woven waistbands, and more. While they were looking at the embroidered blouses, the woman at the stall indicated that the blouses would not be be big enough, as they aren’t made to fit giant people! I guess most of us westerners are quite a big larger overall than the indigenous peoples. Some of them would be less than 5 foot tall. Or short.

in the centre of the picture at the front of a stall are two or three stacks of alpaca/synthetic blankets in a rainbow of colours – how to choose?

Some of the stalls at Otavalo market

So, the conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is if you have sufficient cash and lots of friends to buy for, you’d have no trouble doing it at the Otavalo market.

PARQUE DE CONDOR

We left the market about mid-morning and went to the Parque de Condor (Condor Park), 5 kms out of Otavalo. It’s a refuge for rehabilitated and rescued native birds including condors, eagles, owls, etc. It’s up on a hill with a really great view over Otavalo (see below).

 

There were all sorts of birds in enclosures, but the best part was the display that happens twice daily. (see above)

Condors

 

This funny ball of fluff is actually an owl!!

This bird was really inquisitive – when people came to take its picture, it lost no time in hopping right up to the front of the cage to see what they were up to, as the photo shows

 

bald eagle

A few of the birds that were trained got to show off their stuff while the trainer explained how many eggs they laid and how long they were incubated for etc. (At least, that’s what we figured he was getting at – for some reason, it was all in Spanish! Can’t figure out why they keep doing that!)

It was pretty amazing as some of the birds were really big and they would fly over your head before coming to land on the trainer’s hand (some of them would have been quite heavy, too). When he showed off one of the smaller birds, the audience had the opportunity to come and have it perch on their hand. It’s not too often you get to do that!

 

birds’ eggs – hummingbird egg (Colibri) is the tiny white one in the middle

me and some really large bird (Condor)          

CASCADE

Then we went to Cascada (cascade/waterfall) de Peguche not far from Otavalo and had a wander around there. It was really rather nice. And rather wet if you got too close to the waterfall.

on a bridge across the river

 

on the rock is a young Otavalan women wearing local dress – she got rather wet!

 

Just before you get into the reserve which leads to the waterfall and river, there is part of a stone arch and a wall, and a sign which indicates that it was built by forced labour of around 100 indigenous people (in the 1600’s, if we remember correctly). Initially we just thought it was a wall with an arch, but by the time we came back from the waterfall and seeing the way the river had been channelled etc, we started to wonder whether the arch and wall might not be the remains of an aqueduct; after all, it is downhill from the waterfall. So I climbed up the bank and took a photo of the top of the arch and wall and it seems a definite possibility, but we don’t know for sure.

part of the channelling of the river – this part has been concreted but it gives an idea of the possibilities for aqueducts, etc

view of the arch and wall from above – maybe an old aqueduct?

 

TO MINDO

The next day (Sunday) we headed off to Mindo, a 2 or 3 hour drive north-east of Otavalo and at a lower altitude (part of the Cloud Forest, which is tropical or sub-tropical evergreen moist forest characterised by frequent low-level cloud cover – yes, that does sound like I just looked up what it means), in search of hummingbirds and to mellow out for a day or two.

part of the main street of Mindo

Mindo

Once we started losing altitude, the scenery and trees etc changed. There was a distinctly tropical feel (no more gum trees), and it got warmer.

Mindo is a tiny little town next to a river, with a big tourist trade at the right time of year, and many people from Quito come for weekends and holidays. But it has a very relaxed, in-the-middle-of-nowhere feel, which is rather nice.

the Hostal where we stayed – hummingbirds in back garden

part of the garden at the Hostal -  bird feeder in tree

 

relaxing, Mindo style

The Hostal we stayed at caters to hummingbirds as well as people. The owner has three bird feeders on the go at once which hold a water/sugar solution that hummingbirds love, and has planted the garden to attract wildlife, which it certainly did.

 

 

 

While we were there we saw heaps of hummingbirds (and, yes, they do hum – rather like a bumblebee or big fly), other small birds, a squirrel dashing about with all sorts of important things to do, and up in a tall dead tree, a vulture of some sort. Apparently vultures are common to the area and are not a big deal; but the South American wildlife was definitely a novelty for us Aussies and we sat and watched it all for ages.

the vulture

Mindo is rather different from other towns in Ecuador as most of the houses are made of wood rather than concrete, blocks or brick, and some even have thatched roofs.

Brendan outside a restaurant in Mindo – check out the thatched roof

The houses also have a more open-air feel (verandas, and some houses have openings for windows but no glass) than at the higher altitudes where it is cooler. Also the abundance of tropical trees and bushes, palm trees and banana trees made it somewhat obvious we were in a distinctly different part of Ecuador. Also the giant snails!!

some of the countryside around Mindo

We were walking back to the Hostal on our last evening, when we saw a giant snail crossing the road (Mindo is the sort of quiet little town where both people and snails can wander along the road without fear of getting run over by passing traffic), and of course our friends’ older daughter just had to pick it up and take it back to the Hostal, while the rest of us were being grossed-out about it all – after all, if a normal-sized snail is gross and slimy, how much more so is a giant snail! But kids will be kids!

snail fest!

We noticed that people in Mindo greet you with “hola” (hello) rather than the more formal Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, that they do in Cuenca. Brendan and I liked just being able to say Hola, as half the time in Cuenca we are caught on the hop and don’t know if we are on morning or afternoon and we invariably say the wrong one. Although by night time we have generally worked out that Good evening would be the correct greeting.

well, that’s one way to chill out!

TO CUENCA

The next day we were up and about for the long trip south to Cuenca – it took just under 12 hours. The trip could be done in less time, but Daisy is a cautious driver (which we appreciated when there were blind corners and no overtaking lanes) and as we were driving through fog towards the end, that slowed us down, too.

We got back around 8 or 9pm and were more than happy to finally get out of the van and to fall into bed. Daisy and Paulette slept at our place as it’s another 3 ½ hours or so further to Guayaquil where they live, and in the morning we fed them scrambled eggs (typical Ecuadorian breakfast) and coffee and saw them on their way, with many hugs and fond wishes.