Saturday, September 30, 2006

Ever been kissed by a sea lion?

Anyone wondering if we can relax on our holiday, being on the road so much? Well actually to a point where we totally loose track of time and date. On our way to the Galapagos Islands we managed to show up in Guayaquil a day too late according to our plane tickets. Ups! Luckily the flight agency rebooked our tickets without any nasty fees.

We arrived at the Galapagos Islands on a Sunday. The low season had just started so we hoped to do a good bargain and hook up on a cruise with unsold spaces, doing a scoop.
Reality worked out differently. We did do a good scoop, but on a very expensive boat making the Galapagos a real splurge for us.
Having said that – We need to say: Go to Galapagos! It is worth every penny – and more!!!!

The big thing with Galapagos is not all the different species of rare wonderful animals and birds you find there. It is not the great variety of landscapes you find on the different islands created by volcanoes millions of years ago. The big thing is the contact you get with the animals even though they are not tame.
Because 97% of the Islands are part of a National Park and Marine Reserve, no hunting are allowed by humans. In combination with the absence of predators, the animals have a unique safe environment where they don’t feel threatened.
The consequence is that a one meter long iguana will walk next to your shoes as if it could not care less that you were there, the hawk will let you take all the pictures you need before it goes off for hunting baby turtles, the flamingoes will dance few meters from you trying to catch their shrimps from which they get their pink color, the albatrosses will do their unique mating ritual as if you had paid them to do a show for you and the sea lions will play with you in the water every time you go for a swim. This is a place where animals and humans are actually living side by side. As a human being you can’t help feeling blessed. This is a very special place on earth.

Our boat was a huge catamaran. We were 10-12 passengers, 10 crew members and one guide. The itinerary meant some long sail trips visiting 9 different islands. Here are some of our highlights from each stop we made on the way:

Santa Cruz
For more than half an hour we sat quiet observing a group of 7 flamingoes tap-dancing in the water of a lagoon in their search for food (mainly shrimps) if they weren’t taking a nap on one leg with their head under a wing. Warm and cozy - that’s how they like to sleep. They got really close to us. Very magical start of our trip.

Rápida
Our first snorkeling experience at the Galapagos was a real treat. Two small fur seals swam few meters from us, a sea lion stared us in our eyes and played with us for what felt like minutes, a couple of huge Eagle-spotted Rays swam underneath us among the Kings Angel fish and the Parrot fish. A green sea turtle passed by us.
Biggest moment though was when a 1,5 meter white tipped reef shark came pretty close to us! A real shark! Imagine!!!

Bartolomé – snorkeling around the Pinnacle Rock
Another great snorkeling point. Few meters from us swam a couple of cute little penguins (the only type of penguins on the Northern Hemisphere). We also met two different kind of Rays and the playful sea lions as always. They have a tendency to act like torpedoes heading straight for you, for in the last second to make a u-turn.

Fernandinha - Punta Espinoza
Waking up early after a rough night at sea, we went to the sundeck to spot for dolphins and whales. Far away in the horizon we spotted the big splash of water from a whale. Another passenger spotted a dolphin. That’s all… well if you don’t take into consideration the animal life around the boat: Very near we kept seeing giant sea turtles breathing air in the surface, the sea lions played with the small fish, the flightless cormorants did amazing dives for food and even a penguin passed by. The Frigate birds was watching us from above. What a great way to wake up :-)

When we went ashore another great view greeted us. Hundreds of marine iguanas sunbathing on the black lava rocks. They are ugly but harmless – if you succeed in avoiding their salty spit. We also met a sea lion mummy and her few minutes old puppy – time stood still, as we sat down watching the mummy nurturing the puppy getting used to the World.
Main attraction on the Island though, was the Flightless Cormorants. Cormorants live in various parts of the world, but it is only at the Galapagos they have lost their ability to fly and instead have developed great diving skills. Their feathers though are not made for the water, so every time they have been taken a swim they have to stand in the sun with open wings, drying them…

Isla Isabela – Urbina Bay
Close-up with the huge yellow land iguanas habiting the island. They are impressive animals. You find land iguanas on several of the Galapagos Islands, but they are all different subspecies whom had spend millions of years adjusting to the specific environment characteristic for that specific island they once landed at, therefore they look very different on each island, and Isla Isabela is the only place where you find the big yellow ones.

Plaza Sul
Plaza Sul is a small Island full of land iguanas and sea lions, covering the beach and the rocks all looking really lazy.
The Island also has a huge cliff where we had our first close-ups with the sea birds: The funny looking Nasca boobies – or the even funnier looking Blue footed boobies (they really do have blue feet), Huge brown pelicans, lava-gulls who have red eyes and can see at night, and we also passed a red-billed tropical bird lying on its nest made in a small cave of rocks…way too small to cover its looong tail.
The walk among the seabirds got a sudden twist when our guide screamed: “Splash! Out at Sea!” We all turned around and could see a whale with her baby calf somewhere out there. We took a quick vote and decided to run for the boats to see if we could get a closer look.
On board at the Catamaran everybody went with their binoculars to the sun deck to help the captain spot the whales. 20 minutes later we were really close and could watch the humpback whale mummy teaching the baby ‘how to throw the whole body over the surface’ and ‘how to wave at tourists’. A great finale to a great day.

Santa Fé
Another swam of Land iguanas greeted us at this island. This subspecies was really big and fat!
As always the beach was covered with sea lions. These sea lions definitely made a clever choice not swimming today since the water near the beach was full of hordes of sharks hoping to catch a sea lion puppy for lunch. Incredible.

San Cristobal
After five days on the sea it was time to change some of the passengers (some people only go for a 4 or 5 day cruise). That meant time for us to hang around in a small touristy village and also time to visit the Interpretation Center explaining the Galapagos Islands history and everyday life. Interesting, - but not as cool as real contact with the animals ;-)

Isla Las Lobos
In the afternoon we had a great boat ride close to the nests of some seabirds. We saw the famous Great Frigate bird sitting on top of a tree with an inflated scarlet pouch like a balloon, hoping to attract a female to mate up with.
Highligth of the day also counted a Blue footed boobie baby sitting in its nest, looking cute in its very fluffy white outfit!

Española
At Española we had some really cool close-ups with the seabirds. The cliffs are covered with Nasca boobies and Blue footed boobies. The Nasca boobies where whistling at each other while they threw their wings back. Their special way of attracting a mate.
And best of all: The waved albatrosses. At this time of the year the Albatrosses reencounter their beloved one and that looks really funny. Impossible to explain…but it includes the sound of opening a wine bottle, sword fighting and clapping with the beaks and lots of kisses. Not even Broadway would be able to present a better show.

We also got close to the Galapagos hawk, the only predator at the Galapagos. It sat quiet in the top of a tree, looking for food…or funny looking tourists.

Again, our guide saw a big SPLASH out at sea, and again the hunt for getting close to the whales started, but this time in our small panga boats, which turned out to be a big adventure, since the waves just got bigger and bigger, and we just got smaller and smaller. When the guide gave up finding the whales, it was with great relief that we went back to the boat, where we all smiled at our fortune of still being alive…

Floreana
The most extraordinary experience on Floreana Island was to stand with several sting rays around our feet in the low water at the beach. We got one instruction, be careful of not stepping on them, or they will sting. Apparently the Australians instructions where not as good…

The snorkeling of the day was at the Devils Crown, that offered numerous tropical fish, but the 10 cm. close encounter Barbara had with a big sea turtle was the highlight! If it hadn’t dived, the strong current would have given Barbara a nose kiss with the turtle. Another magic moment at the Galapagos.

The final tour brought us to the oldest post office in the world, which consists of a barrel where the sailors leave their mail to be picked up by others who are heading home. It actually still works today! We are bringing home a postcard left by a couple of Danish children living in Hadsten.

A really great trip which we will treasure in our memory for a very long time. All the wonderful daily encounters we had with the animals, the superb service we got on the boat, the fresh air that always embraced us – and the really nice feeling of having a base, which was a nice contrast to our ‘normal’ backpacker life. Who would have imagined that we would find our most solid base at sea!

Now several days after being back on mainland, Barbara still have the sensation of being on sea…but as the guide said “Just enjoy the ride as long as it lasts – it’s a nice ride!”

P.S. Henrik actually got kissed by a few months old sea lion puppy. Imagine that!

Friday, September 15, 2006

The Devils Nose and Cuenca


Down the Devils Nose
Originally uploaded by Henrik & Barbara.
The train ride from Riobamba to Alausi via the Devils Nose was extraordinary. The railroad is a masterpiece in engineering science with the extremely steep decline at the Devils Nose, and with a mountain which is nothing but a solid rock…
We spend five hours on the roof of a train with a beautiful view to the Andean landscape (along with about 200 other gringos who, like us, had gone to Riobamba only because of the famous train ride…). Along the track we were greeted by numerous farmers and kids, primarily Indians. It was a good feeling to see the enthusiasm of the locals towards us. It was a great feeling to pass the enormous heights of the Andes.
Five hours did seem a little long because we spend the first 2-3 hours in cold weather (had to buy lama-gloves to keep the cold on a distance) but the last couple of hours in warm weather with the magnificent view, definitely made it worth the effort…

From Alausi we went to Cuenca. Cuenca has a reputation of being the most beautiful city in Ecuador. We are convinced! The city has a great historical centre, and lots of nice squares, where music is being played to create a nice calm environment – a great spot to observe the local life. The colonial architecture of the buildings and the 80 churches in Cuenca actually makes you feel like being in the southern part of Europe. It is a very clean and inviting city. We did not do much – except for lots of wandering in the historical centre in great sunny weather, which was a good contrast to the cold hours on the roof top of the train ride, and we really enjoyed being in a place with a great variety of food like Columbian pancakes and Mexican tacos, in contrast to the more common chicken and rice. For sure we have enjoyed our time in Cuenca!

Cuenca is also known for the so-called “Panama hats”, at least this is the name for the hats in Europe and the States, but you will offend any Ecuadorian if you used that name. The “Panama hats” are Ecuadorian and has only been named Panama hats because of all the Ecuadorian labour that went to Panama about 100 years ago to help the construction of the canal, where the hat became famous.
A first I (Henrik) thought the idea of buying one of these hats where quite foolish, I would probably never wear it… But learning about the history (which has been known since the Spanish conquest in the 16th century) and the craftsmanship behind, made me change my mind, and when I was confronted with a 70 years old active manufacturer who had made these hats since he was 6 years old, I had to surrender. The hat I bought is maybe not the finest of the finest (which cost from 10.000 US$...), but I will definitely enjoy my Montecristi! :o)
Thinking about the weeks it takes to make the hats, which are made of a special palm that only can be found on the north-western coastline of Ecuador, makes it a special souvenir.

Tomorrow, we will head for Guayaquil and continue on to the Galapagos Islands. Hopefully we will find a boat there, which can bring us on a trip around the islands.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Baños – Relaxing in beautiful surroundings


Waterfall in Baños
Originally uploaded by Henrik & Barbara.
For Barbara, Baños was going to be the prize of the really tough times she had trekking in the surroundings of Latacunga. Baños means bath. And that’s for a reason! Inside the city area you find several thermal baths – some of these with temperatures reaching 50 degrees. Could life be any sweeter? Yes it could… After looking into the pools, Barbara realised that her Brazilian-sized bikini in no way could match the local Ecuadorian-sized bathing suits so…. she ran away.

93% of the locals in Baños make their income of the tourists. The place is loaded with gringo-friendly diners and infinite options for rafting, climbing, down-hill mountain-biking, horse riding etc. Too many options to choose from – so we picked the unobvious: Relaxed and did nothing for three whole days. We really felt like just enjoying that this is actually a vacation :o)

By coincidence we ran into some of the same friendly people as we met in Latacunga, the Dutch guy (Ramon) and the Belgian couple (Veronique and Filip). We had a great get-together with them….starting with a nice calm dinner and ending at a loud energetic bar in a mixture of Salsa lessons, cocktails in every thinkable shape, Indian hand shakes and lots of stories.
We didn’t have any plans for the next day (at least – we ended up choosing so) but Veronique and Filip were going on a 5 hour hike the next morning, poor them. :o)

Despite Baños’ beautiful location surrounded by tree-covered Andean mountains and waterfalls, it is not entirely a paradise. Next to Baños you will find the volcano Tungurahua which is a permanent threat to the city. The volcano had a major eruption in 1999 which forced an evacuation of Baños. Again this year in mid-July and mid-August, a part of Baños was evacuated when lava started flooding from the crater.
These days they are talking about new possible eruptions, but from what we could see, it is reduced to white steam and a little black smoke. As for now…

After having some quiet days, we headed to Riobamba. Riobamba is really not the most interesting place in Ecuador. It is quite clear that it is a path-through city for tourists going on the famous train ride down the Devils Nose. We arrived today, had the usual almuerzo and well… are now waiting for the day to end.
About the almuerzo by the way: The almuerzo is the cheapest lunch (or dinner) solution you will find in Ecuador (1,25 - 1,50 US$). It usually consists of a large bowl of soup, a plate of rice, chicken, corn swept in mayonnaise, a glass of juice, some pop corn… and sometimes dessert. There are variations of this dish, but after 12 days in Ecuador, we are not too fond of chicken and rice anymore…
Tomorrow morning we will do as all the other gringos in town, - find a good seat on the roof of the train and head down the Devils Nose.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Cotopaxi - the highest active vulcano in the World.


Ready for the climb.
Originally uploaded by Henrik & Barbara.
The volcanoes in Ecuador are present almost in every direction you look. The highest active volcano in the World, Cotopaxi with its 5.897 meters, is sited 50 km from Latacunga. Fortunately it is not very active at the moment, so we hired a guide along with two other tourists, and began the trip up the volcano by car through the Andean nature. Cotopaxi is located in the middle of a huge National park and on the way we did a few stops, both to admire the nature – but also because we needed to acclimatize because of the altitude.
The goal of the trip was to reach the edge of the glacier approximately in 4.850 meters altitude (the same height as Mont Blanc!)

The forces that have created this and other volcanoes are enormous. Cotopaxi and other volcanoes of the Andean mountains were formed as the Nazca plate from the Eastern Pacific slides under the South American plate. In this process rocks heats up and expands, and the free flowing rocks and material is what we know as the lava. Materials mixed with gas and which are ejected from the crater these are called pyroclastic products and these includes bombs, lapilli and ash.
The latest big eruption destroyed Latacunga. It took 45 minutes from the start of the eruption to the lava reached Latacunga 50 km. from the crater…

The actual climb started at 4.500 meters and ended near the refuge at 4.800 meter. At first it doesn’t sound like much – only 300 meters! How hard can it be…? But imagine that the amount of oxygen in the air you breathe is low, you walk in deep volcanic dust and it feels like you are walking up vertically, then 300 meters is a lot! We used about one tough hour to reach the goal, and the prize was a stunning view! Not even the pictures we took can illustrate the magnificence of the panorama view. The Andes spread beneath us in every direction – as long as the eye could reach. From the drive we knew that wild cows, wild horses and herds of Lamas was grassing way beneath us – but from were we stood - in that height - we could see nothing but the great mountainous landscape - and the eagle sitting on the top near us.

After a well deserved lunch, we continued the trip a little longer, until we reached the edge of the huge glacier covering the whole top of the volcano. The glacier begins in 4.850 meters, which is where our trip ended. It was amazing to see the contrast between the white glacier, the blue sky and the bare brown and reddish colours of the volcanic mountain.

On our way down, our guide, the Frenchman and the Dutchman went ahead of us and out of sight, this gave us a feeling that we where the only two people on the mountain in complete silence with no wind moving.
This is the kind of moments that makes you feel very lucky.

Our next destination will be Baños where we will have even better opportunities to observe the active volcanoes…. Baños got evacuated a couple of weeks ago because of an angry volcano, but it should have cooled down now. Lets see...

Bustling market and the splendour of Mother Nature.

Today we started our first real adventure. We signed up for a daytrip – a combination of a visit to a market in Sasquili and a trekking trip up and down the crater of the volcano Quilotoa.

The trip started at the markets in Sasquili. Where the market in Otavalo is loved for the immense beauty of colors and artwork, the Sasquili markets are loved for being SO authentic. These are not markets created for the tourists. The Sasquili markets have existed for several centuries and are the main trade center for many of the different Indians living in the region. Actually some of the vendors travel for 10-15 hours just to do business at this market on Thursday mornings.
And what do they sell or buy? There are 7 different markets. We didn’t see them all – but those we passed were the animal market where people change their pigs for a lama, or their lamas for a cow. The fish market, selling fish transported all the way from the coast, the vegetable and fruit market where the most impressive thing for us was the red bananas and of course – as always - all the different scents from the fresh herbs. In the end we visited the handicraft market which was the only sector designed for tourists. One of the markets we didn’t visit was a potato market…A whole market just for potatoes!!! Well potatoes do come in every color, shape and size here, and are an important ingredient in almost every dish - so in some way this sector did make sense.

The markets are very authentic in every sense. We especially liked the animal market. Full of sheep, goats, lamas, pigs, chickens and cows… And why make things more complicated than they have to be? Why sell your bananas, so that you can by a cow – if you can buy a cow with your bananas? Trading goods is very common here in Ecuador.
The vendors and the buyers (often the same person) was a throng of Indians in their typical clothes - most commonly, a hat, poncho and long skirts. Depending on the form of the hat, the color of the poncho or the woven technique used for making the clothes, it is possible to see from which community they are from. The only ones we could recognize were the Otavaleñoes.
One thing the Indian communities have in common: Are they wearing clothes in bright colors it shows that they are available on the market – unmarried.

Our guide allowed us to buy a lama… due the high risk of being spit at – we chose not to. Instead we bought freshly made corn tortillas, corn bread and a sample of some of the dried corn. The most common corn here are not the yellow one we are used to in DK, but a gigantic tasteful white one.

After a couple of hours at the market we continued the drive through the mountains for two hours. On the way we got a good view of the Andean life – as it is now – and as it have been for centuries almost without any changes. Some Indians live in small huts placed in the rough landscapes – pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The Indians are spotted near the rivers - washing clothes, walking by the road transporting tradable goods or on the field sheparding their herd of sheep or lamas. Apparently there live around 4 millions Indians in Ecuador (one third of the whole Ecuador’s population). Most of them have access to school, but only few of them finish their education. At school they learn both Spanish and Quechua – but because only few finish their obligatory education, there are many Indians that only speak Quechua.
Quechua is an old Indian language. It is written from right to left, only has 3 vowels and is impossible to understand.
Surprisingly, the Indians should be very organized. They have a represent in the government, and their network goes beyond the borders of Ecuador.

The landscapes are very dramatic – the region looks from many sites deserted. Most of the plantations are made of Pine trees, Cypress and Eucalyptus trees – all brought from Australia. When we finally reached the summit of the Quilotoa – crater, what a view that met us! An emerald green lake with a diameter of two kilometer. It truly took our breath away, - partly because of the strong Andean wind which met our faces.

We then began the journey down into the crater. A good half hour steep walk, where we every five minutes had to stop to enjoy the beautiful view. We made a pact with the Belgian couple: To save the photo-breaks for later. A quick glimpse down the steep sandy trail told us that we definitely would need the beaks more on the way up.

When we arrived at the lake – we were greeted by an Indian family. They actually had small canoes for rent. We skipped that adventure, took a sit with a perfect look over the lake and rested before ascending to the summit.
The break did not seem to have been enough... From only 30 minutes used to reach the lake – we used 90 hard minutes to ascend...with a lot of photo breaks… and what ever other excuse Barbara could come up with.. I need water bla bla bla.
The evening was spent with the Belgium couple and a French guy at a very local restaurant. We all had almuerzos. Almuerzos means the lunch of the day and often consists of a soup and a main dish. Today we learned that you can eat lunches at night. A treat for only 1,30 dollar.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Heading to Latacunga.

Again everything didn’t turn out as planned. We took the trolley to the old part of Quito early in the morning. The old part which supposedly should be a beautiful concentration of colonial-style houses. We write supposedly because we never actually made it into the buildings. The whole area was closed with tall fences and loads of cops because of a big political demonstration according to a nice helpful Ecuadorian woman, Glòria. (The presidential palace is located in the middle of the old part of Quito). What a disappointment – but not really a surprise since there is going to be president election a month from now. We shot a few pictures of some of the famous buildings through the fences…not really the same. After a short walk in the area to get a sense of the city anyway – which actually is quite beautiful with the colonial style, we rushed to our flight agency to change our flight ticket home… Now we have a reservation from Santiago to Madrid departing the 21st of December.

Not wanting to spend another day in Quito, we thought it was time to move on and found a bus to Latacunga.
Buses in Ecuador are really easy to deal with. When you arrive at a bus terminal, you are quickly approached by personnel from the bus companies and within seconds you have bought a ticket, thrown you backpack in the luggage compartment and found a seat. Best of all: you only pay a dollar per hour on the bus. Very cheap!
The funny thing about the Ecuadorian bus companies is the pro-policy for street vendors… or should we call them bus-vendors.
Every time the bus makes a stop - could be to collect passengers but also just waiting for a green light - the vendors jump on the bus to sell the passengers everything. The bus ride to Latacunga takes 2,5 hour and in that time we got a very nice demonstration of 2 colored pens, fake watches and several chances to buy seco (a Ecuadorian meat stew), barbeque spears, drinks, fruits, dried bananas and loads of candy.

Latacunga is a small town with a center full of tour agencies selling trips to the three main attractions in the area: A giant crater lake (Quilotoa), an active volcano (Cotopaxi) and the Thursday market in Saquisili. This is why we are here – so within in a couple of hours we had booked a guided trip for the next day.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The middle of the world

We have now arrived in Quito.
Quito is split in two: The new town which is basically ´tourist land´- Very commercial with travel agencies everywhere who sells trips to the Galapagos Islands, the Amazons and the volcanoes around Ecuador, tons of hotels and hostels and millions of different restaurants. Nothing but a big gringo circus. The other part of Quito is the old town which is famous for its colonial buildings. So far we have only taken part of the big gringo circus – but tomorrow we plan to see the old part.

Today we visited the “Mitad del Mundo”, the middle of the world, which is about 25km. outside Quito. Going there, passing the great deserted rough mountain landscape, we weren’t really sure if we were going to the middle or the end of the world.

Mitad del Mundo is the actual spot where Charles-Marie de La Condamines research proved that the earth is not entirely round (!) It bulges on the equator which is why we both lost a couple of pounds during our stay there – due to the reduced gravity.
The most interesting thing though, is the fact that we have been standing with one foot in the Northern hemisphere and the other in the Southern hemisphere!.
This took place in a museum called Inti Nan (the path of the sun) which is a wonderful mixture of an on-location museum, experiments, and lots of stories about the accient people and their culture.
The prove, that this was really equator (despite the fact of a GPS), was the clockwise rotation of the water on one side of the equator and the counter clockwise rotation of the water on the other side, when you flush water in a sink. The experiments of flushing the water also showed that the water doesn’t rotate at all when the sink was placed directly on the equator. Wicked stuff….which we had to film…
Besides this, directly on the equator Henrik managed to balance an unboiled egg on a nail!

The pre-Inca’s used to worship the sun (and the moon) on this very spot. Among many structures and buildings, the pre-incas had build an 18 meter tall cylindrical building which would be 100% illuminated for around 2 minutes twice a year. On these two days, the whole indigenous community would enter the building a make “thumbs up” to receive the power of the sun through the thumps… This also explains why “thumbs up” is so extremely common here in South America – which is has been for around 1500 years! :-)

As said – the plan is to explore the old part of Quito tomorrow. The day after we head to Latacunga, hoping for opportunities to do some volcanic trekking in the area.

See our pictures from Mitad del mundo on http://www.flickr.com/photos/73701193@N00/

Monday, September 04, 2006

Photos available!

See photos from our trip on http://www.flickr.com/photos/73701193@N00/

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Yamor Festival and market fever in Otavalo, Ecuador

The trip has finally begun, - in the northern part of Ecuador, in an indigenous city named Otavalo. Otavalo is placed 2450 meters above sea-level, in a valley surrounded by big mountains and volcanoes. The weather has an average of 14 degrees all year round because we are less than an hour from the equator. We love it up here.

We arrived only a few days ago (Friday afternoon) but so much has happened.
The city is in the middle of celebrating the Yamor Festival, which is a 2-week long festival with everything from exciting typical food, dances, parades, queen-crowning and processions.
We arrived just in time to see the opening parade which was amazing - much bigger than we had expected. All the neighbour villages had each prepared a show, - inspired by the inheritance of the region. For example: the Indians, Spaniards, folk dancers, cowboys etc. A great way for us to get an introduction to the history and culture of the region.

The people from Otavalo are wonderful. The locals (Indians) make us feel very welcome and safe in their city. They show a true pride in their inheritance through their clothing. Woman wear long black skirts, embroidered white blouses, golden necklaces (the more - the better) and a head scarf. The men have a long pigtail, wear white trousers, hat and a dark blue poncho. Surrounded by these locals make us feel how unique this place is, which is so different from anything we have ever experienced.

Yamor - which is the centre of the festival is a drink made by five different corn-types. Of cause we had to taste it... we could not really figure out if it tasted more like a monkey cage, fermented sugar cane or a horse. Bad for sure!! :-) Having said that, we should also mention that the Yamor is the only food we haven’t loved here. We have so far tasted white corns, unpopped fried pop-corn, potato soup with chunks of blood-sausages and a lot of corn bread. We do a great effort to dig up the local places when it comes to food, which seems to pay of, since they are half the price of the tourist places (1 dollar for a whole meal) and probably twice as tasty!

Otavalo is the centre of THE biggest and most beautiful market in South America. At least - so they say, - and so far we agree with them. It takes place on Saturdays and really cries for attention with all the colourful ponchos, carpets, paintings, and tons of other things. We had to restrain ourselves not to become shop maniacs... the thought of having to carry eventually shopped goods for more than three months on the bag seem to help.

Most of the goods are produced by the locals themselves. They have developed a weaving technique that dates back to the Incas which they deserve to be famous for.
Together with a knowledgeable guide we visited five of the neighbouring villages to see how the locals produce their handicraft - and to get a better understanding of the local life and culture. It was a good experience which gave us an insight of both the beauty and the poverty of this region. The poverty and low education results in for example bad nutrition – which is the reason why many of the locals are not taller than 1.20 meters… We must truly look like giants…

So far we have enjoyed every bit of our trip. We are still in the process of getting used to, that everything doesn’t work out as planned, but despite that, everything is incredible.
The next days will bring us to Quito (the capital of Ecuador). Depending on the volcano eruptions down south, we will plan the further route around Ecuador.