"Ok ok but this really is my final offer"

After spending the last couple of weeks couped up in the city we thought we ought to venture out and see some more of Ecuador. On Friday afternoon we hopped on a bus to Otavalo, a medium sized town about 2 hours from Quito. We had the sincere displeasure of watching Van-Damme´s "Inferno" dubbed over in spanish on the bus. I can honestly say that it is one of the worst movies I have seen in any language.

Otavalo is famous for it´s artesanal markets where locals flog a colourful range of goods, handmade and otherwise, to a circling gaggle of tourists. I was dubious as to how good it would be. We piled out of bed on the Saturday morning and decided we would do a quick scout of the market only to find that it spread across the streets of a dozen city blocks. I was the first to be targeted for sale as I was quite keen to get a genuine ecuadorian panama hat. The guy in the stall spotted me a mile off and beckoned me over. After some sharp haggling on my part (I still want to believe I paid a fair price) I joined the throngs of dumb gringos wearing new hats.

The market was full of beautiful things, colourful people and raucous sounds. The handmade crafts, particularly the fabrics, were amazing. Tessa picked up a nice bag from the joker in the photo and also a scarf. We ventured into the fruit and meat part of the market where the locals of Otavalo did their shopping for the week. There were crowds of local indigenous people mostly wearing traditional dress and going about their business.

After cruising the markets we stopped for a well deserved almuerzo (a giant and very cheap lunch special) and went for a walk out of town to Parque Condor. On the way we walked through the open coutryside and got fantastic views of the city and surrounding mountains and lakes as well as walking past people working in fields. It was refeshing to be out of the city and we started to feel as though we were seeing a very different side of Ecuador.

The Parque Condor is a sort of zoo for endagered birds of prey that have been injured or are unable to live in the wild. It was a bit sad to see these graceful birds kept behind fences but apparently they try to rehabilitate them and release them back into the wild. The highlight was definately the condors that seemed to be strutting about their enclosure for the cameras. They would really freak you out if you were afraid of birds...

On Sunday we met up with Markus and Jane, a couple of other students from our school and went for a hike up Mount Fue Fue, just out of Otavalo. Mt Fue Fue is about 4200m above sea level and the altitude (and maybe lack of fitness) made it really hard work. Our guide was an american who had married a local Otavaleño and had moved back about 10 years ago. We had some good yarns with him on the way up while we stopped to catch our breath. From the top we had some sweet views of the nearby Mojanda Lakes despite the ever present clouds.

We´re back in Quito now and back to the reality of everyday classes. We are already planning our next trip out of town for this weekend!