Otavalo markets and hiking!

On Tuesday we arrived in Otavalo, a town two hours north of Quito that is famous for its markets. The biggest market, on Saturdays, has lots of animals as well. The timing unfortunately didnt work out for us to be in Otavalo on a Saturday, but we enjoyed the small markets all the same. They are filled with colorful trinkets, jewelry, hammocks and clothes. Jon found a pair of brightly colored striped pajama bottom-looking pants that he had been wanting to buy since he saw another guy wearing some in Mindo.

Another attraction in Otavalo is the Parque Condor, a rehabilitation center for birds of prey. It is perched on top of a hill southeast of Otavalo, about a 5km walk from the city. We saw eagles, falcons, hawks, owls and other birds of prey, the most impressive being the Andean Condor. This is the largest bird in the world, with a wingspan of over 9 feet. Some of the birds werent in cages, contained only with a strap around their ankle, and you could get 3 feet away from them! They are such intelligent looking creatures, and so majestic, you feel slightly humbled in their presence.

We also hiked Laguna Cotacachi, a huge crater lake just outside of Quiroga (a small town within bussing distance from Otavalo). We hiked with a German man, Toni, who has been traveling the world his whole life working as a guide in Peru for many months every year for the past 12 years. We were also joined by an Austrian man, Bernard. The four of us hiked around the rim of the crater, which brought us high above the lake and gave us views of the entire surrounding area. The valleys of Otavalo were beatuiful, with hillsides that looked like giant green quilts of farms that were patched together. Since it is the rainy season, clouds covered most of the peaks of the volcanos in the area. On the hike, Toni offered us some coca leaves since Jon has been dealing with a bit of altitude sickness as we have been moving up and down throughout this trip. It really did seem to help settle his stomach, and you could also feel effects in your mouth and throat.

We bussed into Quito Thursday afternoon to meet up with our friend Luke, an Australian we met in Colombia. We plan to head down with him to the Cotopaxi area (Cotopaxi is a huge volcano here in Ecuador) for the next week to hike. In preparation for the higher altitude hiking, Jon and I climbed Rucu Pichincha with our friend Hugo. Standing at 4,696 meters, you have to take a gondola up part of the way (hiking the area between the outskirts of Quito to the top of the gondola is not safe) and then hike the remaining distance. The hike is pretty well marked and follows a ridgeline up to rounded rocky towers, but the last bit was a make-your-own-way rock scramble. It hailed on us as we hiked up, so the last section was a little bit tricky but we made it to the top and were rewarded with views of all of Quito and quite a few surrounding peaks (sadly, not Cotopaxi). We hiked back down to the gondola just in time to be safely in a taxi for a monsterous thunder and lightning storm!

We head towards Cotopaxi tomorrow, and will be back in Quito in a week to catch our flight to the Galapagos where we will spend 10 days on the beach snorkeling and diving!