Otavaloooo

Buenas!

WOO HOO WEEKEND TRIP! This weekend, the entire K crew packed up and went to Otavalo and Cotocachi, two towns about 2 hours from Quito.

First stop: animal market in Otavalo. Yep, they were totally selling guinea pigs to eat, among other things. It’s the delicacy of La Sierra region in Ecuador, called Cuy. I held a guinea pig. It was extremely cute and I made sure to catch a small one so I knew it wasn’t going to be eaten soon. I have yet to eat cuy, but I definitely will.

Next up, the HUGE indigenous outdoor market that Otavalo is famous for. We had heard rumors of how big this place was. It was bigger. I was in heaven. And I only had 1 ½ hours. Panic. I managed to stop myself from buying too much. But only because I promised myself I’d go back and spend more. Mental victory. I’d tell you what I bought, but it’s mostly gifts for everyone so that would ruin the fun.

After that, we went to a condor park and a sacred pre-Inca site, both sweet. The mountains were incredible to see, better than Yosemite, seriously, this whole country would be a national park if we were in the U.S. At night, we got to see a Shaman cleansing ritual performed on two students. Shamanes are the spiritual leaders/healers of the people, and the ritual was fascinating. It involved fire breathing, spitting, a sword, and an entire fifth of alcohol, among other things.

Next morning, we visited a fruit market, and did some waterfall climbing. We went to la cascada Pechuche, which looked a lot like Rainbow Falls in the Smokies, but was still pretty tight. Apparently this is where people take of all their clothes and party during the yearly festivals in Ecuador.

After that, we heard some Quichuan music and saw some dancing (Quichua is the indigenous language of Ecuador). The music is mostly comprised of wooden pipes, drums, and guitars made of armadillo shells. I attempted to play the pipes and got really light-headed. We then got to watch a crazy parade in Cotocachi, saw the queen of the city, muy chevre (cool).

Last stop, VOLCANIC LAKE!

We went to Cuicochi, which is literally a lake inside a volcanic crater. A long time ago, the volcano erupted and self-imploded, forming a crater. The lake has no fish and is really clear. It appears different than other lakes because there's no beach - all of the sides of the lake are steep, high cliffs, looks like a huge bowl half filled with water. We boated to the center of the lake and the lake was bubbling, how cool is that? And we got to climb around the crater. We were all super tired by then, but fun stuff.

So that was my exciting weekend! In other news, classes are going well, I'm teaching my empleada how to knit, I'm reading a Tom Clancy novel in spanish (fine piece of literature, right), next week I'm going rock climbing, and I have more mosquito bites than I can count on my ankles right now!

Miss you all, Lisa