Departing the Andes (and the comforts of Español)
As we write this entry, Jon and I are awaiting the take-off of our flight from Quito, Ecuador to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we will begin our exploration of the South American country famous for its beaches, its beach attire, football, dancing and parties, and unfortunately, Portugese!!
Our last ten days in Ecuador have been the perfect end to the past two months we have spent exploring the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. After the Ferris family left, we traveled just a few hours north of Quito to Otavalo, the town famous for "the biggest markets in South America." Although we cannot claim to have seen all the markets in SA, these were certainly many times larger than any others that we have visited. We began the morning at the livestock market, where we saw cows, pigs (really, really, really, big ones), sheep, and horses being sold and loaded into trucks or led off on foot to their new homes. As a Delaware native, I am closely familiar with livestock, and my family was visited by the occasional loose pig running through our yard when I was growing up. The pigs in this market were much bigger, uglier, and louder than any other I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They were black, rather than pink, with course hair, and the weirdest scrunched up noses--they looked like they used to have a long snout, but had run into a few too many walls.
After the livestock market, we moved on to the main part, which consisted of thousands of stalls lining the streets of the town. There was a produce section-- where we bought pineapple rounds on sticks (like a pineapple lolipop)-- a cooked food section-- where you could buy meat cut off a whole pig that had been dropped in a very big deep fat fryer (it still had it's teeth!)-- an artisan section--where we managed to refill all the space in our bags that we had freed by sending things home with Jon's mom and dad--and, of course, the everything else market--where you could buy anything from baby shoes to bras to a VHS player.
The best part about Otavalo, though, was the hostel where we stayed. It was an hour walk from the town, through the local farms and up into the foothills. The views from the hammocks on the porch (yep, that's right) were amazing, as was the fireplace we had in our room (all for the bargain price of 9 dollars a night)!! Both made for great relaxation after doing some of the dayhiking in the area. On Sunday we walked up to three lakes formed by volcanic craters with a Kiwi couple--we had a great time, despite the fact that after 4 hours of walking, we never found the 3rd lake!!
Although we had planned to return to Quito for Spanish school after a long weekend in Otavalo, we enjoyed our return to the Andes so much that we decided to spend our last week in Ecuador at a different Ecolodge in the mountains called the Black Sheep. So, Monday morning we left Otavalo for the long trek (8 hours of car-bus-bus)to the town of Chugchilan, population 100, and home to the Black Sheep Inn. The last bus ride we took to get to Chugchilan was 4+ hours....and 60+ miles. Uhhhhh, nurse? It was very uphill, and very unpaved--road would be a loose term for the surface upon which we were traveling!! But, we found the destination to be well worth the trip--to keep you coming back, I will save the details of our week there for the next entry--I know, the suspense may kill you:)
So, after 10 days in the mountains of Ecuador, we are leaving the spanish speaking mountain nations of South America. Exploring the Andes and the language of Español have been two of our favorite parts of the trip so far, but although we are sad to be leaving, we are looking forward Brazil. Upon landing tomorrow, my Brazilian friend Bruno, who was an exchange student at my high school, is taking us to the beach to watch Brazil play in the Quarter-finals of the World Cup--this should be an explosive start to an amazing trip through the cities and beaches of Brazil.
We will update the blog soon with Black Sheep stories, and stories from the game--we may have to purchase Brazil shirts in the airport so we fit in--although, Brazil fans probably paint their bodies or do something much more extravagant than just wearing a jersey....we'll let you know:)
Gooooo Brazil!!!
Love,
Jon and Kristen
PS Sadly, although we have old pics that we will be posting very soon, new pics will be few and far between due to some technical difficulties experienced on the city streets of Quito (a VERY sneaky theif managed to take our camera from our bag without us even knowing it)!! The day the camera was stolen, we had downloaded over 500 pics saved on its memory card onto a CD--so, although we were upset, we felt like it was the luckiest robbery EVER!
As we write this entry, Jon and I are awaiting the take-off of our flight from Quito, Ecuador to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we will begin our exploration of the South American country famous for its beaches, its beach attire, football, dancing and parties, and unfortunately, Portugese!!
Our last ten days in Ecuador have been the perfect end to the past two months we have spent exploring the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. After the Ferris family left, we traveled just a few hours north of Quito to Otavalo, the town famous for "the biggest markets in South America." Although we cannot claim to have seen all the markets in SA, these were certainly many times larger than any others that we have visited. We began the morning at the livestock market, where we saw cows, pigs (really, really, really, big ones), sheep, and horses being sold and loaded into trucks or led off on foot to their new homes. As a Delaware native, I am closely familiar with livestock, and my family was visited by the occasional loose pig running through our yard when I was growing up. The pigs in this market were much bigger, uglier, and louder than any other I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. They were black, rather than pink, with course hair, and the weirdest scrunched up noses--they looked like they used to have a long snout, but had run into a few too many walls.
After the livestock market, we moved on to the main part, which consisted of thousands of stalls lining the streets of the town. There was a produce section-- where we bought pineapple rounds on sticks (like a pineapple lolipop)-- a cooked food section-- where you could buy meat cut off a whole pig that had been dropped in a very big deep fat fryer (it still had it's teeth!)-- an artisan section--where we managed to refill all the space in our bags that we had freed by sending things home with Jon's mom and dad--and, of course, the everything else market--where you could buy anything from baby shoes to bras to a VHS player.
The best part about Otavalo, though, was the hostel where we stayed. It was an hour walk from the town, through the local farms and up into the foothills. The views from the hammocks on the porch (yep, that's right) were amazing, as was the fireplace we had in our room (all for the bargain price of 9 dollars a night)!! Both made for great relaxation after doing some of the dayhiking in the area. On Sunday we walked up to three lakes formed by volcanic craters with a Kiwi couple--we had a great time, despite the fact that after 4 hours of walking, we never found the 3rd lake!!
Although we had planned to return to Quito for Spanish school after a long weekend in Otavalo, we enjoyed our return to the Andes so much that we decided to spend our last week in Ecuador at a different Ecolodge in the mountains called the Black Sheep. So, Monday morning we left Otavalo for the long trek (8 hours of car-bus-bus)to the town of Chugchilan, population 100, and home to the Black Sheep Inn. The last bus ride we took to get to Chugchilan was 4+ hours....and 60+ miles. Uhhhhh, nurse? It was very uphill, and very unpaved--road would be a loose term for the surface upon which we were traveling!! But, we found the destination to be well worth the trip--to keep you coming back, I will save the details of our week there for the next entry--I know, the suspense may kill you:)
So, after 10 days in the mountains of Ecuador, we are leaving the spanish speaking mountain nations of South America. Exploring the Andes and the language of Español have been two of our favorite parts of the trip so far, but although we are sad to be leaving, we are looking forward Brazil. Upon landing tomorrow, my Brazilian friend Bruno, who was an exchange student at my high school, is taking us to the beach to watch Brazil play in the Quarter-finals of the World Cup--this should be an explosive start to an amazing trip through the cities and beaches of Brazil.
We will update the blog soon with Black Sheep stories, and stories from the game--we may have to purchase Brazil shirts in the airport so we fit in--although, Brazil fans probably paint their bodies or do something much more extravagant than just wearing a jersey....we'll let you know:)
Gooooo Brazil!!!
Love,
Jon and Kristen
PS Sadly, although we have old pics that we will be posting very soon, new pics will be few and far between due to some technical difficulties experienced on the city streets of Quito (a VERY sneaky theif managed to take our camera from our bag without us even knowing it)!! The day the camera was stolen, we had downloaded over 500 pics saved on its memory card onto a CD--so, although we were upset, we felt like it was the luckiest robbery EVER!
posted by Jon and Kristen | 8:54 AM
1 Comments:
Otavalo sounds awesome -- and nice work wrapping up your travels in Ecuador. My big question is this -- did they have fun cheeses at the big market??
Post a Comment
<< Home