Thursday afternoon: Phone calls back and forth between Karl, Andy, Seth, Katelyn, Jenna, Alyssa, Katie and I. "Well we have to figure out which bus we want to take from Terminal Norte tomorrow." "Do you want to leave in the morning?" "Yeah, best to get there early and have the whole day to do things." "Do you have the hostal numbers? They're not working from my phone." "What I gave you was what I have in the Lonely Planet, we can just wing it tomorrow. That's strange that it's not working." "Looks like the buses leave every 20 minutes, we should be fine." "So we can meet up, say 7:30AM tomorrow and grab a bus from Granados to Terminal Norte after going to Supermaxi for some snacks, sound good?" "Sure thing, talk to you tomorrow early morning if not later tonight." "Okay, chao!"
It's about 2AM when I finish packing my backpack Jansport with clothes for hiking, going out, toiletries, books, shoes, water and my flute - just in case. I set my alarm for 6AM thinking I'll get up early and pack some food to take with me since it's cheaper than buying it at Supermaxi (Meijer but mostly food - Michigan readers, Stop & Shop - East Coast readers) and fall asleep almost immediately.
7AM - I wake with a start. It's too light outside to be 6 because I normally go running at 6AM and that's when the street lamps shut off. Realizing I'm going to have to shower, eat, pack, and catch a bus/taxi to Granados in 30 minutes I immediately begin to prioritize: I can survive without food - I'd feel nasty if I didn't shower - I can pack food quickly by just grabbing queso fresco, pasta de guayaba, un poco de pan, y cualquier fruta que está en la cocina - Taking a cab would be a bit more expensive but would save me a lot of time. I jump into a quick shower (the hot water mercifully comes quickly), pack my toiletries, make up my room, rush to the kitchen and start packing some food into a plastic bag that I put into my purse. As I leave I mentally double-check the location of all my money, camera, ipod, keys and phone. This is a constant habit. I bid a "Buenos días" and briefly explain to Mario, the doorman, that I'll be back either "sabado o domingo". He blesses my trip with a "chao mija" (a shortening of "mi hija" which is an older-younger term of endearment). It's almost 7:30AM now, but it only takes about 5-10 minutes to get to Granados by taxi. As I pull up in front of Banco de Pichincha, I see some familiar faces sitting on the side walk ready for our next adventure with backpacks full to bursting and water bottles tucked into the side pockets. I smile as I see them because after our trips to Mindo and Same, I know that none of us want to play it safe.
We reach the station and as usual people are yelling at us left and right "Siga, siga, siga para Otavalo, Otavalo, Otavalo" "Se va ahorita! Siga, siga, siga" (Roughly: "Come, come, come for Otavalo! It's leaving now! Come, Come Come!") . We buy our tickets, hop the bus and we're off.
Two and a half hours later, or Naked Gun and part of Naked Gun 2 1/2 in spanish, we arrive in Otavalo. Our first order of business is to find a hostal and drop our stuff. My host mom knows a lot about turismo in Ecuador and recommended Valle del Amanecer. After walking around a bit and coming across some okay looking hostals downtown we come to one that we all think looks nice but unfortunately the lady working there tells us there isn't any room but recommends one right down the block: Valle del Amanecer. We arrive and immediately get a good vibe from the garden with hammocks, palm trees, aguacate trees inside the outer wall. $11 a night that includes breakfast. Boom. We unload our bags, repack to head out on the town, and go look for some food.
As we walk we follow where the people are going and it leads us into this open air market that is selling all sorts of everyday things like clothes, pots, and trinkets. There's a small opening that seems to be leading to a whole inner market and we take it. Good decision. Immediately there are bags upon bags of spices, grains, legumes, straw for hats and baskets and pots of all sorts. Then I saw something I had never seen before quite like this (like many things in Ecuador): a meat market. We walked down aisle after aisle of piles of chicken feet/heads, literally bowls of lard, obviously stacks of meat, and a few pigs heads (cooked and uncooked). It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen because I'm so used to everything being super packaged, isolated and clean. Not here, there were dogs trotting around everywhere hoping for scraps and the occasional fly buzzing here and there.
Almost every woman behind these meat counters, and later of fruits, juices, and breads, is wearing the traditional Otavaleño wear which consists of a dark blue or black floor length skirt, an incredibly intricate and beautiful white floral top, a colorful belt, usually a multi-layered necklace of gold beads and a sash of the same dark blue or black fabric over one shoulder that either held a baby, things to sell for the day, or, in one person's case, a drill.
After walking around independently Andy came back and said, "Hey, if you want to eat where all the Otavaleños are eating, follow me." Good decision #2. We walked up a particularly floor-dirty area that had the most dogs and humans I had seen yet. We sat down at a bench in front of one of the counters and there was a giant pot frying pan in front of us that was mounded with arroz, vegetales, papas, and something that I didn't recognize that I was pretty sure would be meat. It was "sangre" (blood). We asked how much and she said "un dolare". Impressed at the price and wanting to eat the way the Otavaleños do, we sat down and waited. I asked for no meat, though I knew it would still have some :P but I decided to silently thank the animal it came from, eat the pieces on my plate and enjoy. She continued to pile on more food on our plates as we ate and cracked open an egg for each of us! All for 1$!! At USFQ (the university I am attending) I ate a caprese panini for 3.35$. We were so stoked about this cheap, authentic way of eating especially after having passed pizza joints and sandwich shops on the main roads.
TBC off to Parque Carolina for Sunday festivities!
Con cariño,
María Elena
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