Today began with brekkie in the Hotel. The place we are staying in is perched up on the eastern hills of the city, affording amazing views over the north part of the city.
Quito is quite an interesting city urban design wise, as it is nestled between the mountains and valleys on all sides. It runs 50km long north south and only about 10-15wide. It's very undulating and with the Pichincha volcano forming the western edge, it makes for a spectacular backdrop.
Today we were venturing 2 hrs drive north east of Quito to the town of Otavalo. It's Saturday and the local Indian handcrafts market is on.
We got a guide to pick us up, drive us around and take us wherever we wanted for the day. Was a pretty good deal and he was a really interesting guy, knew so much about so much.
First stop however was a Church not far from our hotel, Iglesia y Convento de Guapulo. Was pretty amazing inside. The level of decoration and adornment is phenomenal.
We then hopped on the Pan American highway and drove to the town of Cayambe. Here we first got a lesson into the history and mysticism of the equator line. There was a large stone plaza/sundial that mapped out the calculations of the sun paths from early times. Quite magical.
The drive was quite scenic, we traversed the mountain side and went past many greenhouses, filled with roses.
Our next stop was Otavalo markets. The town itself was quite interesting, located on the edge of a lake with a small town feel. The markets were ok, lots of native clothing, arts crafts and food.
After a couple of hours shopping we headed for lunch and more shopping in the small town of Cotacachi. Lunch was quite something, ecuadorian prawn cebiche, different to peru's, as its more soupy, beer; and steak. Was quite nice.
The cool thing.The town is known for it's leather products, and strolling up the quiet streets, nearly all the shops were selling some sort of leather goods. We didn't buy anything though...cos unlike the song...(I don't look good in leather)
We then headed back to Quito, enjoying the scenery of the countryside and the mountains; well at least for a little bit. Sim was asleep within two minutes of getting back in the car.
That afternoon we had a rest at the hotel before heading out for dinner in the La Mariscal area. We found a nice cafe restaurant, dessert was the highlight, crepes and ice cream and sim had a three scoop sundae.
We returned to our hotel, where there was not much of a view out of our window. At night and early morning, the clouds and fog roll in over the city, blanketing it with mist. Quite cool.
Speaking of blankets- time for bed!
- Blog from iMat
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