It’s been a good couple of days here in Quito. On Friday we took the TeleferiQo cable car up to Volcan Pichincha which, at 4,100 m, offers amazing views over the city. I walked up a little further and I have never felt so exhausted from doing so little before. There’s just no air! The struggle further up the mountain was certainly worth it though. It was so good to be out in the open countryside and have the sky above me. I’ve really missed that at the farm. Obviously it’s in the countryside, but there are so many trees everywhere that I hardly ever see the sky. It was good.
Yesterday we got the bus to Otavalo and the indigenous craft market. The town is nice, with a much friendlier atmosphere than Quito; as you’d expect from a small town really. The market itself covers the whole of the main square and spills over into all the surrounding streets. There was so much to see! And all the stallholders call you amiga and charge too much money. Bartering is fun though. In addition to lots of souvenirs for friends and family, I am now the proud owner of a cosy woolly cardigan, a new handbag and purse, and two original oil paintings by a nice man named Diego. I spent ages at his stall looking through all his wonderful work and we chatted for a while. He kindly offered to show me around the area if was staying longer, and even offered a bed at his house if I happen to be in town again. I politely declined. While I was there, an eccentric old man from Quito joined the conversation and it turns out that he lived in Germany for 20 years, so we had lots to talk about. He invited me for a cup of tea at an English tea room run by a bloke from Derby. He had Sainsbury’s red label tea with milk – the only decent cuppa I’ve had since April! I really enjoyed it and the company was great.
The rest of the day was spent shopping and trying all sorts of weird and wonderful street food from vendors clad in traditional dress. It was a really good day and I loved the friendly atmosphere of the place, so different from Quito. It’s a shame we were only there for a day. Still, there’s lots more to see elsewhere and I’ll tell you all about that in my next post.
Oh, I've also added a few photos and will try and add some more soon. Don’t forget to mail me!
