Q4 24+3

Otavalo

Early Saturday morning we boarded a bus and headed north to the highlands to Otavalo. We were taking the Pan American Highway - a pretty significant stretch of road that starts in Alaska and goes down to Chile. On the way there we stopped for a break and tried an Ecuadorian fruit called chirimoya. It´s called a custard fruit. The outside is green and tough, somewhat resembling an artichoke and you peel it open and eat the meat which is white and very sweet. They were yummy! After getting back on the bus, we didn´t get much further on the Pan American highway when we encountered a road block. Apparently, people in Ecuador take action against the government when they aren´t getting what they feel they deserve. In this case, bus drivers and flower truck drivers had parked there respective vehicles diagonally across the highway so that no autos could pass. They were protesting against the government because they had applied for some kind of permit and it had not been given to them. So, our bus had to do a 3 point turn (which turned into an 8point turn) on a 2 lane highway. We finally made it to Otavalo via a different route and went to our hotel in Peguche just outside of Otavalo. Then we were off to the Indian market, the largest market in Ecuador, which is held in Otavalo every Saturday. There we did lots of bargaining and shopping. I also discovered that while they don´t have super soakers here, they have balloons filled with water. I learned that this week is the beginning of carnaval - a celebration they have the week before Ash Wednesday to celebrate the start of Lent. Their tradition here is to celebrate with water fights. They don´t do it to be mean- they expect you to join in and throw water back. They have lots of fun.

At dinner we had an Andes band play music for us. David, I know you would have hated it. Lots of songs with those pan-flutes you can´t stand. But, there were cute Otavaleña girls that came and sang and danced. I took lots of pictures to share with you all soon.