Otavalo

Hello all! I returned from Otavalo yesterday afternoon and what an awesome trip it was!! But before I get into everything, let me answer a couple questions from those of you who posted comments on this blog or emailed me. First of all dad, there are many people here in Ecuador who are bilingual especially in the big city of Quito in which I live. Some of them speak Spanish and English fluently, but the majority of Ecuadorians speak just enough English to get by, and some speak none at all. I have met a couple people through my host mother's circle of friends who speak Spanish, English and French, but people like that are few and far between here. As for the cars they drive, they are all manual and most are pretty tiny and do not pollute the air as much as the huge cars in the US, but you have the buses that run on diesel fuel which produce a giant cloud of smoke each time they press on the gas. The goverment here realizes that pollution is a huge problem but they don't do much about it because it costs money and they honestly are too lazy to change anything. And on top of that, the president of Ecuador, Correa, has raised taxes like crazy since he became president, but instead of using that money to help the country he pretty much uses it for himself. Nooooo bueno. Also Barbara, I do have a bunch of free time because I only have 4 classes, 2 each day starting at 12:00pm...I am usually back home by 5pm with the commute. I have a lot of reading to do for my literature classes but during the week if I want to go out I definitely can, and my weekends are always free to do whatever kind of traveling or exploring that I would like. I would certainly consider this a free semester :) And finally, dearest mother: yes I brought PJ's, no we don't have a fireplace at home, yes I bought my books for classes, yes I have started to boil water for myself so that I can drink clean water, yes Sandy has just as many kitchen appliances as we do if not more, yes I have been to other host family's houses but mine is by far the best, no the homes here are not all alike, the neighboorhoods differ depending on where one lives just like in Charlotte, most have gardens but not many have yards because land is expensive here and all the houses are stacked on top of each other, the streets are tiny and some don't even have lines dictating in which lane you should be driving, most of the cars here are American but all very small, hardly anyone jogs or rides bikes here because it is better to be a little bigger here so that you have "more to love", and yes I have shown my host family and their friends plenty of pictures of our family. Whew! Haha. Also, I took my altitude pills before and during the first couple of days I was here so I never experienced the nausea and headaches that come with getting used to living at a higher altitude. I have also been drinking plenty of water, I don't ever drink coffee and rarely sodas and I definitely have been watching my salt intake because the food here is pretty salty. Speaking of food, most Ecuadorians have a different schedule for meals than we do in the US: breakfast is simply a piece of bread with butter and jam, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and dinner is no more than something to tie you over so that you are not hungry before you go to bed. In my house with my host family, I usually drink a big class of water along with a cup of  yogurt or a spoonful of peanut butter for breakfast, usually because I am in a hurry but mostly because here I am rarely hungry in the morning. For lunch, instead of buying it at the university (which has 5 little cafes/mini restaurants) or going out to eat at a restaurant and spending 3 or 4 dollars a day, I went to the local "Harris Teeter" called Supermaxi and bought a loaf of bread, cheese and turkey along with juice boxes and I take my lunch every day. Sometimes I will go to a restaurant near school with my friends and drink a beer in between classes simply because I can :) But for dinner, Sandy or Coli usually make rice with meat or soup or lentils or pretty much anything we have on hand, so dinner is still my biggest meal of the day. And lucky for me, I live in a house with chocoholics, so there is always something sweet for dessert!

And now that I have written a couple thousand words answering everyone's questions, it is now time to tell y'all about my trip to Otavalo!! All six of us gringos (5 girls and one 6'6" guy) headed to the bus station after classes on Friday and the trip took us about 2 hours (only 2 dollars to get there, 1 dollar per hour!!). When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hostel called Rose Cottage where we were greated by a crazy lady with bright red hair (and eyebrows) who spoke broken English and sounded Asian while doing so haha. We were shown around the grounds of the hostel and we took our stuff to our rooms to freshen up. We stayed in a coed room with 8 beds total that was nicely decorated, equipped with hot water (thank goodness) and a great view of the mountains surrounding us. From there we took a taxi back into town and headed to a restaurant called Restaurante Otavalito, recommended to us by the taxi drivers and the owner of the hostel. There was a band there that played lively folk music using drums and small guitars while we ate. I feasted on a meal of chicken (my safest bet) with a mushroom and wine sauce and roasted potatoes and a beer called Pilsener (a local Ecuadorian beer) the size of my head. I also met a man from Belgium at the restaurant who thoroughly enjoyed speaking French with me. After our meal we tipped the band and headed to a local bar where there was yet another band playing Ecuadorian folk music and even more beer in bottles the size of my head. We had loads of fun chatting and dancing to the music but we had to retire early so that we could get up early the next morning to check out the local market that is held every Saturday. So after a good night's rest we woke up at 7am, ate breakfast and headed to the local market which was by far one of the coolest experiences I have ever had! There were three different sections of the market: animals, food (local fruits and veggies) and my favorite, the random anything-you-could-ever-want-to-buy-EVER section. First we went to the animal section where we saw piglets, huge hogs, cows, chickens, goats, ducks and horses. I have never stepped in so much feces nor been rubbed up against by so many nasty animals NOR been pushed around by so many tiny Ecuadorians in my entire life. But it was awesome :) Then we went to the food section where I saw some fruits and veggies I had never seen before. I did not purchase any though because we have a simular market here in Quito every Saturday morning and I will be going either this coming weekend or the next with my host mother. So after passing through the food section we headed to the miscellaneous items section where I bought a few really really cool things, most of them hand made here in Ecuador. I had to bargain with the people selling the items so it was a great test of my Spanish skills. They were selling everything from sweaters made from alpaca to paintings to jewelry to pottery to bags and even  nike shoes! I took pictures of all the things I purchased as you will see below. It was so cool to walk through the  market and check out what everyone was selling...but seriously these people are such good salesmen that they could probably sell a dirty rock for 20 bucks. They would try to reel you in and make it seem as though you had to buy what they were selling...you had to be strong and just say no while walking away. Bargaining was by far the most fun buy also the most difficult because you could knock down prices really easily using techniques like walking away or telling them that you bought something simular at another stand for a lower price. But you had to be careful because you had to keep in mind that knocking down the price too low would be insulting to the person not only selling the item but who also took the time to make it. Also, these people make their living this way and are proud of what they do so you kind of had to have an idea of what the price of each item should be (and I did thanks to a pep talk from Sandy and Coli before the trip). So after spending at least 4 or 5 hours at the market, we headed to the Peguche waterfall which was a 10 minute bus ride from the market. Everything was so green and beautiful and the water was so clear and cool...it was a great idea after being out in the sun all morning. We hiked to the top of the waterfall and took pictures, and there we encountered a couple of thieves who were trying to get us gringos to follow them into a cave to "go swimming" so that they could rob us of all our belongings...but they didn't realize that they were messing with some pretty inteligent gringos, and we chose not to follow them. We chilled at the waterfall for a couple hours, took some great pictures and then headed back to the bus station in Otavalo to get on home. On the bus ride back to Quito, we encounter a few more thieves who made a big operation out of stealing from this poor American man sitting a couple seats in front of me and right next to my friend Juliana. Initially, one of the robbers sat right next to me for 20 minutes on the bus until another man got on the bus and he gave him his seat (in order to survey the isles to make sure no one was looking as they stole from the American). But the robber wasn't able to steal from me because I had all of my belongings in my lap with my arms wrapped tightly around them. The other two robbers were sitting across the isle from me and right behidn the American man and Juliana...one guy was holding a newspaper up to hide what they were doing and the other man was bent down under the seat, cutting open the poor man's bag and stealing all of his belongings. But honestly it was the American man's fault because he placed his bag at his feet which is something one should never do here because people will steal from you exactly like these three men stole from him. And probably the worst thing about the whole situation was the fact that the man working on the bus whose job it is to collect money from the passengers was being paid off by these robbers so that he would keep his mouth shut. How awful right? And I am guessing you are thinking "Why in the world didn't you do anything about it Powers?!" Well, the entire time this was going on (a couple of my friends kinda saw what was happening but didn't realize it until the 3 men exited the bus), I was talking to the man who sat down next to me after the robber gave him his seat. We spoke for 2 whole hours in the bus about anything and everything from Ecuador to the US to politics to religion and finally, he told me that he was an artist and was in Otavalo at the market selling his art! He pulled out many of his paintings from his bookbag and was showing me everything that he had done and explained to me how he but the texture and colors into his works and what the significance was of each paiting. Finally, when we were about 10 minutes away from Quito the man looked at me and said (in Spanish because he didn't speak a word of English) "you know, I really have enjoyed talking with you on this bus ride...would you like to choose between a couple of my artworks? I would like to give you one as a gift." Can you imagine how thrilled and touched I was when he said that?? So I chose a painting that I loved and I can't wait to bring it home and put it in my room or in my apartment at State. I have a picture of the painting below. But I think the most amazing thing he said to me when he gave me the painting (after signing the back of it with his email address) was this: "Powers, tu tienes otro amigo en Ecuador" which translates to "Powers, you have another friend in Ecuador." The people here are so kind I cannot even explain what great men and women there are in Ecuador. I love, love, love, LOVE it here :)))

  Alright, now that I have talked y'all's ears off, here are some pictures that I took on the trip along with captions as usual...just by the way, you can click on each picture to enlarge it. And again, any comments, questions or concerns please email me or comment on the blog. Talk to you all soon, love you!

Rose Cottage hostel...this is where the crazy owner lives on the property. And you can see her along with my friend Lauren standing in front of the house. Gah was she strange!

All six of us! Tall boy Joe is in the back, and from left to right there is Lauren, me, Juliana, Cynthia and Julie. The house that you see to the right is where we slept. Look at that view!

Inside of our little house. There were 8 beds all nicely made up ready for us when we arrived...we were all very comfortable.

THE VIEW FROM THE HOSTEL!

THE VIEW FROM THE HOSTEL 2

Mr. Alpaca who lives at the hostel.

 Me with the view.

 The restaurant in Otavalo where we ate like royalty.

 The cool band in the restaurant who played while we ate. Great folk music.

 The other band we saw that night at the bar. Again, fantastic Ecuadorian folk music.

 The animal section of the market. Eww.

  A native Ecuadorian lady from Otavalo in her typical dress.

 The miscellaneous section of the market.

 Me drinking coconut water straight from the coconut itself. Yummm!

 "Welcome to the Peguche Waterfall"

 The Peguche Waterfall in all its glory.

 Yahooooo!!!

 All of us on a bridge near the waterfall...about to hike up to the top.

 The view from the top of the waterfall.

 You see those two men inside the cave? Those were the thieves trying to rob us by telling us to follow them into the cave. Nice try robbers but you were messing with the wrong gringos.

  A little owl figurine I purchased made out of a gourd. Hand crafted, and if you shake it you can hear some leftover seeds rattling around on up in there!

 On my finger you can see the ring I purchased made from silver and a metal called alpaca. The man who sold it to me made it by forming a mold out of a leaf, pouring the hot metal into the mold and just before cooling he bent it to make a ring. Each one is different, which is why it was so intriguing to me. And around my wrist you can see the bracelets I bought 5 for 1dollar. Oh how I love Ecuador.

Here is a hand made tapestry made of alpaca wool that is about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide depicting a little Ecuadorian town. I plan on hanging this up on my wall :)

And finally, this is the painting given to me by the artist sitting next to me on the bus. The animal is a lizard and the composition is made up of many different materials and textures.