During the weekends I hike the one hour out of the volcano and hop a bus to somewhere. Otavalo is north of Quito. I got intouch with a guy I met on the bus when I first came to Ecuador from Peru. We spent alot of time together as the ride was supposed to be 14 hours and turned into 25. Now I will not take a bus trip that is scheduled to be over 5 hours. I would rather town hop than be stuck in that situation again. So when I reached Otavalo I called my new friend Tarquino. He picked me up at my hotel and I was immediately invited to the wedding celebration of his sister. Drinking, dancing and eating into all hours of the night. Even his 80 something year old grandmother was smashed. The next day was a fog. I hired a driver to take me to the sights. The famous Wedding Tree, some tree that has been standing solo for generations. The Lagoon were a pack of dogs almost ate me for lunch. The Condor Park was really cool. They have a collection of different birds, mostly condors that have been injured or for what ever reason can not return to the wild. They give a demonstation of the birds flying and how they catch their pray. I took advantage of the offer to hold one, using a leather glove of course. They are pretty amazing birds. I hiked into view a very big waterfall. The indigenous people swim naked under the fall every year as a celebration of the new year. The water is really cold. I visited a place where they weave using the old methods. I learned how they dye the wool, spin it and how to use a backstrap loom. I even wove a few rows. It is a very complicated process to weave those beautiful patterns.
