Off to Otavalo

The day started easily, with a cab drive through rainy Quito, which is a whole different experience when the cobblestones are wet, to the bus station and an immediate entrance into a north-bound bus,heading for Otavalo, and we would have made great time but for a fender bender that our bus got into. Someone tried to u turn in front of us and the bus clipped the back of her car. They had to stand on the sidewalk and haggle, with a policeman there, about who paid whom how much for a good half hour, in which time I fruitlessly argued for them to open tha door and let us stand on the sidewalk. Oh well. We were off again and arrived in otavalo around lunch time.

Had lunch in a mom and pop little restaurant with no menu, just a set lunch, and a very friendly family. We noticed on the way out that the intricate patterns in the stone and concrete floor were actually made up of rows and rows of cow bones. Hundreds of them, thousands. Pretty nifty. After a post lunch snooze, we headed to the big open air market, and the students seemed to really enjoy it. Che Guevara pendants, woven pants, sweaters, earrings...many purchases were made, and more are on the docket for tomorrow.

I followed the lead of the students for supper, which we just had at a tourist oriented place that served mostly Italian food. I broke down - theyve had plenty of Ecuadorian fare. Our list of new foods people have tried is now deep onto its second page...Been pointing out when people are speaking Quichua = Otavalo is an Indian town, very prosperous, with a long history of trade. Quinn noticed a larger number of bicycles here than in Quito, a combination of the prosperity of the population and the fact hat it is a much smaller town and it is safer to ride a bicycle here.

The evening will hold a stroll to look for any music there might be, and an early start tomorrow, since we probably are going to go on a somewhat lengthy hike to see the waterfall of Peguche. That, after another morning visit to the market - they were happy to find that it opens at 7:00 AM. This, from a group that whimpers like puppies when you set roll call for 8:00.

Tom has gone from eating nothing to engaging in eating contests with Chloe and Sara. And speaking of Tom, he just found online the name of the trio that knocked our socks off at the Teatro Nacional Sucre the other night. Hooray, which I would love to end with an exclamation point, but this keyboard is stumping me. Our hotel here is as nice as our last one, if not nicer, and spirits are high. Commerce will do that.

Until tomorrow

Mr Johnson