Ecuaadoooor!!!!

We made it and we are here. As we decided previously we ran away from this big city towards North direction, to Otavalo 2550m above sea level. Otavalenos are very nice, helpful and tiny people. Sometimes we felt like giants J

We had great weekend full of activities, walks and funny moments. We visited huge Saturday market where almost everyone sells the same things :) ponchos, jackets, hats, bags, bracelets…. Another market in town, was with animals, where we could find mostly cows, pigs (including one that wanted to eat my shoe), sheep, mules, dogs and chickens. Besides the dirt all around, the confusion of animals which were pulled from one side to the other, people dealing prices we had nice breakfast. Piglet meat, beans and salad (no bread finally).

Then we had a lovely walk through eucalyptus forest towards  S. Pablo lake up to Condor park, where we saw a show of birds of pray. Nice place! On the way back to the city we had company of a lovely family. Grandpa with his grandchildren including swimmer Marcelo. It was him who called my attention for small tarantula!!! My first tarantula I´ve seen in the wild.  

But the best was still to come. After small trip by bus and “colectivo” where we met Swiss, Albanian, English and Belgium ( 7 nationalities in one car, including Ecuadorian driver) we had fabulous hike around Cuicocha volcano in 4990m above sea level.  4 hours of amazing views in subtropical volcano climate. Our first Ecuadorian hitch hike was super positive. All you need is show finger and car stops J

And there we were again in Otavalo packing our bags and heading to Quito the capital of Ecuador.