We had our first excursion this weekend!! And i finally felt like I had arrived!!!!!!!!! I had an absolutely amazing time. I actually wish I could just keep traveling for the entire semester...who needs school anyways??????(Sometimes I feel like I might as well not be in class considering sometimes what they say goes right over my head anyways lol) but (no mom i am not dropping out of school lol) classes are going ok...some days are better than others my english class is always good haha tejido (weaving) just go really hard because now i am working with 2 colors and not just one and considereing i'm no an artist nor do i speak fluent spanish-its kinda difficult to pick up but enough about classes-
this weekend a group of about 20 of us (our program consists of students from penn state and illinois) left on a bus to Otavalo-a city about two hours away. We made quite a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at the mitad del mundo-the half of the world!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to balance an egg-and it stayed up amazingly! Our second stop was at a Bizcocho-a bakery that is very common all throughout Ecuador which serves a type of biscotti/biscut. so we all sat down and had bizcocho (also the name of the food), some hot choclate and cheese (real healthy I know). And our final stop was at a lookout (I'm not sure of the name or if there even was one) but I do know it was beautiful seeing all mountains (even tho i wasn't keen driving a bus through the mountains on the really skinny roads) side note I got to pet a llama that was hanging out at the stop lol it was kinda cute : ) and on the last stretch to Otavalo-we gave an Indigenous girl a ride the last part of the way (idk details ) but she sang a couple of songs for us on the way in her native language-which isn't spanish-there are acually lots of indigenous languages but the most common language which is spoken in the Andes is Quichua. She also sold homemade scarves and bracelets-how could I say no???? lol so i bought a bracelet-which was the beginning of my shopping extravaganza!
I knew that the Otavalo market was big-one of the biggest in Latin America-my I literally had no idea how BIG!! It went on for blocks and blocks. There was stand after stands of crafts, art, food, jewlery-anything you could ever want. Overwhelmed would have been an understatement. We had two hours to shop and I made the mistake at first to just look and then tell myself I would come back later if I couldn't find a better deal. The problem was you couldn't ever find your way back. It was nuts-scarves, jewlery, yarn, meat, fruit, paintings, panchos, sweaters, pants, blankets, bags, cualquier cosa! it was a lot different than shopping in a mall (besides the obvious) because you had to barter with the indigenous people-and be able to say no because they were worse than telemarketers! i ended up getting quite a few things-i had a huge problem with all the colorful woven bracelets! i also got an awesome painting, a few scarves, yarn for my tejido class : ), and a purse among a few other things!!!! but i am definitely going back! Two hours wasn't even enough to get your bearings.
After shopping we proceeded to have lunch which you never would guess was: soup, meat, vegtables, and some rice-just like every other ecuadorian meal! : ) After lunch the bus took us too our hostel-which I had always imagined to be a poor alternative for a hotel for broke college students. But i was wrong!!! It was absolutely beautiful! It was called the Casa del Sol and it was a big colorful Spanish house built on the mountain overlooking the city of Otavalo! The sign atctually read: Mas que un hotel-una casa con identidad (More than a hotel-a house with identity) Me and sarah were roomates and we got the cutest room complete with a balcony and fireplace. The Casa del Sol was actually also in walking distance of the Peguche Waterfall-where molly, sarah, and I decided photos weren't good enough-so we decided to go for a dip and actually stand under the waterfall. We obviouosly got soaked-and even though we had to walk back sopping wet and our shoes for the next day we're soaking (minor details you never think of when deciding to go under a waterfall) it was prolly one of the best experiences I've had here so far!!! We then finished our eventful day with dinner at the hostel which again-was soup, meat, vegtable (which are usually served cold here-which i'm not sure about) and rice. lol but we did get to try a traditional ecuadorian drink called colazo (?)-a warm cidery tasting drink.
The next day was just as eventful-we woke up to an amazing breakfast and then we went on a walk to an indigenous families home-which was a huge wakeup call. That is the problem in Ecuador that I had heard but never saw first hand-there is no middle class. We literally walked down the street from a beautiful chic bread and breakfast and ended up at a shack-literally a concrete box with dirt for floors and sheets for doors and pigs tied up outside. The family was so kind and welcoming and showed us how they made their crafts that they sell at the market (which is as far as I know their only source of income). It was incredible and shameful at the same time we had a plush bed and breakfast and their kitchen was a pot on a fire pit on the dirt outside..definitely something to think about...
we finished our excursion at otovalo going to another indigenous home-which seemed to be a lot more wealthy. they were a musical family who made and sold instruments (and played them). the man made a wooden instrument right in front of us-he made it look as simple as building a paper plane then he demonstrated all the different instruments (tons I have never even heard of) and then lastly his family came out and they played a song for us.
Don't worry there is still more lol
Our very last stop was Cuicocha Lake-which is a crater lake at the foot of Cuicocha volcano. It had some of the clearest and cleanest water I have ever seen. We took a short hike around part the lake (to go around the whole lake is a 4 hour hike), had lunch and went on a boat tour of the lake. *Randomly at the boat dock there was a indigenous musician who was playing the theme song from titanic on his windpipes lol not exactly the theme music i would have imagined for ecuador lol
The cherry on top of our long trip was dessert before we headed back to Quito. I got bread pudding-definitely wasn't Timpones breadpudding : )
this weekend a group of about 20 of us (our program consists of students from penn state and illinois) left on a bus to Otavalo-a city about two hours away. We made quite a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at the mitad del mundo-the half of the world!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to balance an egg-and it stayed up amazingly! Our second stop was at a Bizcocho-a bakery that is very common all throughout Ecuador which serves a type of biscotti/biscut. so we all sat down and had bizcocho (also the name of the food), some hot choclate and cheese (real healthy I know). And our final stop was at a lookout (I'm not sure of the name or if there even was one) but I do know it was beautiful seeing all mountains (even tho i wasn't keen driving a bus through the mountains on the really skinny roads) side note I got to pet a llama that was hanging out at the stop lol it was kinda cute : ) and on the last stretch to Otavalo-we gave an Indigenous girl a ride the last part of the way (idk details ) but she sang a couple of songs for us on the way in her native language-which isn't spanish-there are acually lots of indigenous languages but the most common language which is spoken in the Andes is Quichua. She also sold homemade scarves and bracelets-how could I say no???? lol so i bought a bracelet-which was the beginning of my shopping extravaganza!
I knew that the Otavalo market was big-one of the biggest in Latin America-my I literally had no idea how BIG!! It went on for blocks and blocks. There was stand after stands of crafts, art, food, jewlery-anything you could ever want. Overwhelmed would have been an understatement. We had two hours to shop and I made the mistake at first to just look and then tell myself I would come back later if I couldn't find a better deal. The problem was you couldn't ever find your way back. It was nuts-scarves, jewlery, yarn, meat, fruit, paintings, panchos, sweaters, pants, blankets, bags, cualquier cosa! it was a lot different than shopping in a mall (besides the obvious) because you had to barter with the indigenous people-and be able to say no because they were worse than telemarketers! i ended up getting quite a few things-i had a huge problem with all the colorful woven bracelets! i also got an awesome painting, a few scarves, yarn for my tejido class : ), and a purse among a few other things!!!! but i am definitely going back! Two hours wasn't even enough to get your bearings.
After shopping we proceeded to have lunch which you never would guess was: soup, meat, vegtables, and some rice-just like every other ecuadorian meal! : ) After lunch the bus took us too our hostel-which I had always imagined to be a poor alternative for a hotel for broke college students. But i was wrong!!! It was absolutely beautiful! It was called the Casa del Sol and it was a big colorful Spanish house built on the mountain overlooking the city of Otavalo! The sign atctually read: Mas que un hotel-una casa con identidad (More than a hotel-a house with identity) Me and sarah were roomates and we got the cutest room complete with a balcony and fireplace. The Casa del Sol was actually also in walking distance of the Peguche Waterfall-where molly, sarah, and I decided photos weren't good enough-so we decided to go for a dip and actually stand under the waterfall. We obviouosly got soaked-and even though we had to walk back sopping wet and our shoes for the next day we're soaking (minor details you never think of when deciding to go under a waterfall) it was prolly one of the best experiences I've had here so far!!! We then finished our eventful day with dinner at the hostel which again-was soup, meat, vegtable (which are usually served cold here-which i'm not sure about) and rice. lol but we did get to try a traditional ecuadorian drink called colazo (?)-a warm cidery tasting drink.
The next day was just as eventful-we woke up to an amazing breakfast and then we went on a walk to an indigenous families home-which was a huge wakeup call. That is the problem in Ecuador that I had heard but never saw first hand-there is no middle class. We literally walked down the street from a beautiful chic bread and breakfast and ended up at a shack-literally a concrete box with dirt for floors and sheets for doors and pigs tied up outside. The family was so kind and welcoming and showed us how they made their crafts that they sell at the market (which is as far as I know their only source of income). It was incredible and shameful at the same time we had a plush bed and breakfast and their kitchen was a pot on a fire pit on the dirt outside..definitely something to think about...
we finished our excursion at otovalo going to another indigenous home-which seemed to be a lot more wealthy. they were a musical family who made and sold instruments (and played them). the man made a wooden instrument right in front of us-he made it look as simple as building a paper plane then he demonstrated all the different instruments (tons I have never even heard of) and then lastly his family came out and they played a song for us.
Don't worry there is still more lol
Our very last stop was Cuicocha Lake-which is a crater lake at the foot of Cuicocha volcano. It had some of the clearest and cleanest water I have ever seen. We took a short hike around part the lake (to go around the whole lake is a 4 hour hike), had lunch and went on a boat tour of the lake. *Randomly at the boat dock there was a indigenous musician who was playing the theme song from titanic on his windpipes lol not exactly the theme music i would have imagined for ecuador lol
The cherry on top of our long trip was dessert before we headed back to Quito. I got bread pudding-definitely wasn't Timpones breadpudding : )
awww...sounds fun hun. Your pics are great!
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