Cotatachi

Cotacahi is a wonderfull small town near Ibarra so we decided to tke a trip down there today. It's the leather centre of Ecuador and stores line the main street with all kinds of beautiful leather products. Our friends bought a beautiful leather carry on luggage bag. I used my strong will power to resist buying a leather jacket for anywhere from $65 to $165. I decided in the end that our bag is getting to full and our wallet getting too empty and my old jacket at home still has quite a bit of wear.

There are quite a few Americans living here and today we met one of them who has set up a business here selling land and houses and doing tours of other areas. He has a website called Pro Ecuador. Nice couple and quite a few English speeking staff - one from Victoria.

It's about 35 K to Cotatachi and a $4.00 cab ride but we decided to take the local bus. The Government must really subsidize bus transport as the fare is only 25c. The bus depot is the size of a football field with busses to surrounding areas coming and going constaantly.

There are no such thing as bus stops so the bus stops anywhere someone flags it down. This can be a mile or often 100 yards so it can be a long trip. We got on the bus this AM and we were the last one on. I hoisted myself up the steep stairs and the bus started to back out and get out of the terminal. I grabbed a post and hung on for dear life, swinging around like a pole dancer while the bus jerked around. Fortunately a lady in the front row quickly saw my problem and opened up a nearby seat for me which I quickly plunked myself into. The moral of the story, don't be the last person on as the drivers don't have munch concern about handicapped or elderly people!


We found some really nice restaurants here and had lunch in one of them. The retaurants around the hotel in Ibarra aren't much so it was a pleasant change. The whole town is quite a contrast to Ibarra which is a hustling busy place. Cotacahi has nice quiet streets without the constant frantic traffic - it's easy to see why quite few North Americans have retired here. We came baack to Ibarra and the Saturday night traffic was unbelieveable. Saturday night is big night here! We decided to go to the Chinese cafe down the street for dinner and had n enormous plate each of pretty good food for $5,20. Shades of Vancouver Chinatown in the 60s!


Off to Otavalo on the bus the next day to get some gifts at the big market. The bus ride down was quite uneventful and smooth – we managed to get seated early so there were no more pole dancing routines on my part!! This time we were going 50% further so the fare was 40c instead of 25c on the way to Cotatachi. On the way back the fare was 50c ea – you figure it out. The bus was completely jammed with two people aside packed down the aisle. All kinds of young kids in seats – all kinds of elderly people standing up. It seems to be the way down here.

They have a fare collector on every bus and instead of fighting his way down the aisle two or three times to collect all the fares, we couldn’t understand why he didn’t just stay at the door and collect them as people got off . However, we shouldn’t have North American thoughts like this!


Two little indian girls who posed for a picture, there are a lot of them around the market dressed in traditional clothes. They are originally from an area east of here. Many older adults are only 4 ft tall!

The market in Otavalo was terrific again today. Several blocks wide and long and it’s a totally open temporary market. You have to appreciate the effort these people go to every day to pack their products in every morning (probably on their backs), set up their displays and then take it all home at the end of the day. They have whole families manning their booths right down to 11 – 12 year old kids.




There are a lot of alpaca products, scarves, ponchos, shawls, sweaters, hats and beautiful rugsl This is mixed in with a few leather products, hangings, jewelry and wood carvings. We shopped mainly for some gifts to bring home and a few more small treats for us! If we were much younger we would like to ship a container load of these things back to Canada and open a shop.
We were pooped after a few hours as the pressure to buy things is very constant. You get a little tired after a while but you really can’t blame the people as it’s their whole living. You almost feel badly bargaining them down but it seems to be the way of life. They see gringo coming so they start the price high and away you go. There is no such thing as a price tag, it’s all by negotiation.
We settled down for a rest at the hotel and by chance discovered the finals of the Australian Open Tennis on ESPN of course with Spanish commentary so we muted the sound and enjoyed the great final.


All alpaca wool!


Today is a quiet day back in Ibarra with a trip to the big market to restock the fruit basket. It's about 4 blocks away so we walk it as my walking has become much stronger with all we have been doing. It is quite a busy street with a lot of foot traffic so I was quite suprised to look down and see a $10 bill lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up and not only was there a $10 but another $10 and a $20 as well. We felt like we had won the lottery!

After stocking up we saw a barber shop across the street so I got a haircut - not up to Pauline's standard but guaranteed to last close to two months with the short back and sides!

We headed to the Super Maxi Mercado which is in a big NA style mall and the grocery store is Save On Foods size (not owned by Pattison as far as I know). They carry everything including booze so we decided to cellebrate our find and picked up a bottle of Queen Anne scothch (12.50) and a bottle of Chian wine (6.60).

We have another date with the dentist on Tuesday and if we can escape his clutches we are taking the bus to Mindo which is birders paradise – 19 varieties of Hummingbirds!