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OtavalWHOA Saturday, September 11, 2010 Friday morning was marked by the Cimas tour of the city and public transportation system. This meant we were on buses and trolleys for about 4 hours and had 2 of pictures and eating and wandering about. In conclusion, taxis are worth every penny. Michita, Luis and some students on the trolé  La virgen del Panecillo  Monument to liberty outside the presidential palace I have been back from scenic and terrifying Otavalo for not even a day yet. We went directly from our city tour to a rush hour bus where some members of our group were hanging onto backpacks and poles barely two feet from an open door on the bus. We climbed aboard an already moving bus marked "Otavalo" and finally relaxed for two hours. We arrived in the town of Otavalo at about 6pm. By this point it was just about dark and for some strange reason many Otavaleños turn off every single light. Including municipal street lights. We decided to discuss our plans in the single remaining light of a bakery as a man with a stocking over his head strolled by. Nine of us decided to keep with the plan of heading to a hostel up in the hills while the other eight decided to stay in town and enjoy the music festival. It took three taxis to carry us to La Luna through dark and winding stone roads. After we surprisingly left the taxis with all of our organs still inside, we were greeted by three great dane-bull mastiffs behind an imposing iron gate. One of the hostel owners let us in and led us to our cabin before they served dinner. La Luna was quite the pleasant surprise after our in-town experiences. The main building looked like some kind of hobbit house and rolling hills with grazing horses and cows surrounded the property.  The main building at La Luna  My new friend When we awoke the next morning we took pictures of the landscape and monstrous dogs, laid in the hammocks around the main building, then left for an adventure after breakfast. We used a hand-drawn map to navigate goat paths and muddy fields to find a magnificent waterfall. Some of us went into and under the frigid waters while others were content to sit on the rock behemoths surrounding the cascade.  We fell into a vortex and wound up in Tuscany  The waterfall  Francisco and me before we lost all feeling in our skin After check-out we headed into town to see the market and have lunch. The market was much to big to see in one day and carrying our backpacks slowed us down, but some still managed to find bargains. After we had our fill of Otavalo, three of us hopped on a passing bus back to Quito. Last night Santiago took me out for the best hot dog in the world at Los Hotdogs de González Suárez. It was a foot-long hot dog on a split piece of bread with onions, ketchup, mustard, crushed potato chips, and pineapple jelly. It's probably for the best that I don't have a car and can't go there for every meal.
Sam / 0 comments |
About the Adventure Student: Sam Grigsby '11 While abroad in Quito, Ecuador, Sam will interning with a grassroots nonprofit organization dealing with human development. Through this work, he hopes to identify areas of further study and possible career paths. Sam also intends to greatly improve his fluency and conversation skills in Spanish while staying with a host family and working in his internship. Blog Archives
• June 2010 |