Rain in Cotopaxi

Chalise and I headed south to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi to stay at Secret Garden Hostal. Set in the foothills of Cotopaxi itself, Secret Garden is a nice, quiet place to spend a few days in and do nothing...which is exactly what we did. We reserved a "Honeymoon Suite"/ Cabana which had a small living room with a wood stove, dresser, small couch, and private shower & bathroom. The bedroom was located in a loft above, with a window looking directly out towards the mountainside. Although not equipped with electricity (nor could we dispose of toilet paper in the toilet, a common practice in much of Latin America), it was nice. Nothing wrong with "roughing it" for a few days.

The hostal provided trips/hikes to the summit of Cotopaxi, horseback riding, and nature hikes to nearby waterfalls. Unfortunately for us, it rained most of our stay, and spending five plus hours in a downpour without proper rain gear is not how we wanted to spend a majority of our time. Luckily for us, Cotopaxi is only an hour and a half away, and I have no doubt we will return when the weather is better. Instead Chalise and I spent our time going on walks of our own, reading in hammocks, drinking lots of tea, and enjoying some peace and quiet in the Andes.

Cotopaxi

Looking out from our bedroom window.

One of two gardens.

Chalise making a new friend.

What's a farm in the Andes without a couple of llamas?

Mi amor

Front porch view looking east.

Front Porch view of Cotopaxi. This was the only picture I captured our whole trip. Twenty minutes later, Cotopaxi was completely clouded over yet again.

Front porch view looking west.

One of the three hostal dogs. He decided to follow us on our hour-long walk.

Chalise & Mash

 

Rappers On the Bus, Earthquakes, and Otavalo

Yesterday Chalise and I took our first trip together here in Ecuador and headed into Otavalo. Located north of Quito, in Imbabura Province, Otavalo is a small town which is know for its large textile and handicraft markets. For less than a Tri-met ticket, we hopped on a bus and enjoyed a typical "Ecuadorian" 2 hour ride to Otavalo. By this I mean, there were frequent stops with a number of vendors selling everything from fruit, homemade potato & plantain chips, ice cream, as well as "secos de pollo" (dried chicken). One guy was even promoting his rap CD, and gave the whole bus a demonstration of his skills by rapping along to a boom box he brought on board.

After we arrived and found our quaint hostel, we then walked around a bit and checked out a few of the small stalls that lined many of the streets. Lunch consisted of hot tea and handmade fruit pies, from a cafe that looked out across "Plaza de Ponchos". This would be the main destination for us and the thousands of others that flock here every Saturday.  

Saturday, market day! The crowds started early, and we could already hear throngs of people going down our street at 6:30 a.m. Chalise and I headed out, and while we were enjoying some cafe con leche at a corner stall across from Parque Bolivar, the ground began to shake and everyone stopped in their tracks. Yep...Earthquake! I was sitting on a stool and thought it was just wobbly, then upon realizing what was happening, I stood up and noticed that the ground too was shaking. Crazy. Took me back to '89 Loma Prieta. We later found out the the epicenter of this quake was somewhere in Colombia.

After quickly waking up from both the coffee and the quake, we headed down into the many markets that lined nearly every street, and were hit with the amazing sites and smells. Food and butcher markets selling everything ("waste not, want not"), bordered with dozens of tables and chairs where locals enjoyed their breakfast (I will go back to Otavalo just for this). After walking around for forty-five minutes or so, we made out way back to "Plaza de Ponchos" to seek out a rug, and an alpaca blanket for our bedroom. We managed to find both and I did my best to barter the lady down  from her asking price. She even tried short-changing me, and I called her out saying that it was not what we agreed. She gave me a smile, showing a few gold capped teeth and said, "Si, yo recuerdo."

A very beautiful city, with many kind and gracious Andeans. Looking forward to going back.