Ecuador Collage

Otavalo

Las Cascades de Peguche.

Ecudorian traffic jam.

We loved Ali Shungu.

Otavalenos

The indigineous women of Otavalo dress in a distinct style. They wear their long hair parted in the middle and wrapped with a faja.

Even the very young girls, wear the same traditional skirt and blouse as their mother. The white bundle is a baby.

The ladies wear multistrand faux gold necklaces around their necks and orange beaded bracelets.

They were beautiful and friendly.

Market Day

Though there are always vendors in Poncho Square, Saturday is the big market day. You can find anything!

At first, we just walked around as if in a daze, looking at all the interesting things for sale.

This lady's table snapped us out of it.

At the end of the day, the entire store is put into a bag and placed in storage until the next morning.

Food Market

This is where all of Otavalo gets their food for the week.

Spices, fruits, vegetables, meat, herbs, all fresh foods. There were no boxes of packaged food to microwave. There were no microwaves

The meat is displayed on tables and hanging on hooks. Who needs refrigeration when you are going to cook it anyway?

After weaving through all the stalls, we finally selected this woman's dish, mainly because she had a lot of potatoes.

Lake Cuicocha

We visited the prettiest lake in Ecuador and hiked a portion of the rim trail. The lake is formed in the caldera of Volcán Cotocachi.

The views from the rim were breathtaking!

We celebrated the 4th of July at a dive called the Golden Years. I am pretty sure our kareoke made an impression on everyone.

The Jungle

We went on a jungle excursion near Tena, and that is where I met Angel (Angelique).We went across the Napo to a sandy beach. Then, we went swimming in a junlge river!

Las Cascades

My first activity involved combing up 3 waterfalls. I was told to follow this 15 year old with a rope into the jungle. OK!

Obviously, my new guide could sense I was a huntress. He applied the traditional warrior marking with a stick and the paste from a red fruit.

Then, we slowly sloshed up the creek, and wach waterfall was bigger than the next. By the end, I was totally soaked.

A couple dogs from the Amorongachi Lodge followed us the whole way. They must have done this before because they knew exactly how to get around the waterfalls by climbing alternate paths through the dense forest.

Shangri La

Our jungle paradise was set high on a cliff over the Napo River which is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River.

Aahhhh! Dana and I spend many hours up here.

The lodge had a pet tarantula that would emerge each night after dinner. My new little friend was light and soft.

The bartender forced me to drink ayahuasca, a horribly potent homebrew made from that pile of leaves. It tasted like lava.

The Canyon

We trekked to a nearby canyon for hiking and exploration. It began sprinkling as soon as we started the hike, and then a little black snake slithered across a tree branch.

Some of the trek involved moving through the canyon without touching the ground.

We were not alone. See all the bats!

Dana makes this look really easy.

Quechua

We visited a Quechua village. They are one of the indigineous groups living in the jungle.

One of the children tends to the fire in the kitchen. The pet bird keeps an eye on the bananas grillin on the coals.

We sampled chicha, the local alcohol made from yucca. The taste was not unlike warm, sour milk.

Our guide demonstrated how the villagers live off the land. This is a fish trap made of reeds. However, after buying several pieces of handmade jewelry from this family, I realized that they are making a pretty good living with their tourism gig.

The Flood

It rained almost continuously for one day.

The Napo swelled with rain.

This is the beach where we went swimming.

Ecuadorian Food

The orange fruits are tomatillo de arbor (tree fruit) or sweet tomato. The look and texture is exactly like a tomato, but the taste is similar to passion fruit.

Typical Ecuadorian dish: rice (of course), grilled fish wraped in a leaf, and a "salad" (pile of tomotoes and onions lathered in vinegar).

Typical breakfast: fruit, bread, and juice.

My new favorite food - fried manioc dipped in honey!

Yet More Food

At first, I kept ordering too much food because the prices were cheap, and the portions were big. This was one of my favorite meals - potatoes with cheese and spinach & a veggie salad which was good despite being doused with vinegar.

A delicious soup with a boiled potato in the middle.

Typical streetfood.

The cow hooves didn't seem to be all that popular because two of the hooves were lying on that counter for 6 days.