Otavalo, Ibarra, y San Antonio

 Yum.  Yum yum yum yum.  I had the best lunch ever- chicken soup, steak, rice and beans (beans are rarely served with rice here- but I LOVE them), and tomatoes.  And the best chocolate bundt cake ever.  Wow.  Ok, in case you haven't realized before, I love food.  A lot. Food is my greatest joy in life.  Haha ok that's exaggerated, but you get the picture. 

Before I tell you all about my trip to Otavalo this past weekend, I'd like to say thank you to all the visitors of my blog! I've had people from Russia, Germany, the U.K., Peru, and of course, Ecuador and the U.S.  I'm assuuuuming I know all of my readers, since I have friends in each of those countries.  So hello! I've been having so much fun sharing all my experiences with all of you :)

Alsoooo, in case some of you haven't noticed, words in a different color or underlined are linked to external sites to help explain the word or give a better picture of what I'm talking about.  I've also added a video to my post Double decker bus! so you can hear the band that was playing outside of the art museum that I was telling you about.  Really it just sounds like noise, but Chino wanted me to add it. 

And last but NOT least- I've changed the settings so that ANYONE can comment! I've had some complaints about not being able to comment if you don't have a gmail account, so please feel free to leave me comments or messages on my blog, if you feel so inclined.

Ok so here we go! Deep breath! (It's long...I mean, really).

So far, Otavalo has been one of my favorite trips since I've arrived! It is just such a quaint little town (pinturesco, for some of my Spanish speaking friends); the pace of life is so different from the city.  Many of the people wear traditional Otavaleña clothing- the women in long black skirts, beautiful white shirts, and gold beaded necklaces, and the men in white pants and ponchos (of course, this is a bit of a generalization, but you get the idea). Alpargatas sandals are the shoe of choice, and both men and women wear their hair very long, often tied in patterned cloth (for women), or in braids.

Every Wednesday and Saturday (and a bit on Sunday as well), hundreds of vendors come to sell their handmade goods- cloth, clothing, scarves, jewelry, artwork, candy- you name it.  It's an enormous marketplace that goes on for blocks and blocks- definitely a place you can get lost in.

With the number of vendors (many selling the same things), it's nearly impossible to make up your mind on what you want to buy if you're just browsing like I was.  I ended up getting three scarves (I ALWAYS buy scarves in Otavalo!), one for $2.50, another for $3 and another for $4- so cheap! We went with Chino's parents (which was awesome since they drove instead of us having to take the bus), so I didn't want to be too much of a shopper and hold everyone up from seeing everything.  There is a smaller version of the market held here in Quito, though, that I plan on spending more time at (and buying lots of gifts!).

We spent an hour or so browsing through the stands before we stopped for lunch.  Here are some pics of the marketplace:

Typical necklaces sold in the marketplace. It's more common to see women wearing the gold necklaces, at least from what I've noticed.

Here is a typcial stand- lots of necklaces, beads, and jewelry, along with little Otavalo dolls and baby stuffed alpacas.

Otavalo dolls! They're dressed in the usual Otavalo attire.

Bracelets!! There are a million kinds...this is just an example of one.

More necklaces.

There are so many colors and textures to take in- it's such a cool place to experience.  My favorite part of the day, though, was definitely lunch.  The restaurant we went to, Mi Otavalito, had live music typical of the area, and the waitresses all dressed in Otaveleña clothing and served typical Andean food (including cuy, which is guinea pig! It's a specialty in the area, actually, and was the most expensive item on the menu, $16!). 


I ordered one of the house specialties- Trucha a la Otavalito, which is pan-fried trout with a shrimp sauce and shrimp on top.  It came with a salad and potatos and was one of THE BEST meals I've eaten. Ever. And it cost only $7.50!

Chino's parents also ordered trucha (trout), but it came with fries instead and without any shrimp ($6.50, I think), and Chino got steak, as usual, also with fries and a salad ($7).

Such a cute little place!

My trucha a la otavalito.  The flavors were amazing!

Live music! They were really great.

Yum!!

 After lunch, Chino's parents took us to a few more little towns, namely Ibarra and San Antonio.  Every town in Ecuador seems to be known for one thing or another, and Ibarra is known for it's ice cream! So, of course, we got ice cream! Most of the places make their own ice cream, and it's a bit icier than the ice cream we're used to in the U.S. I think the fruity flavors, for this reason, are the best.  As you can see on the menu, below, an ice cream "cono" with two scoops only cost 60 cents!

 After making a couple other stops, Chino's parents dropped us back off in Otavalo to meet up with Chino's friend César and his girlfriend Petra, who had just arrived from Quito by bus.  Petra is from Switzerland and is the coordinator for a volunteering organization here.  She has a two year contract with her organization and has already been in Otavalo for over a year! She opened her own cafeteria with another Swiss friend, called Cafetcétera, which serves breakfast foods and desserts, as well as hosts cultural events, such as movie nights. I believe they are helped by youth with mental handicaps, as it gives them an opportunity to learn how to cook or serve food.  (Petra or César- if you're reading this and it's wrong please let me know!) Please check out their Facebook page for Cafetcétera (click the link!) Chino and I went there for breakfast Sunday morning before going back to Quito and it was amazing! I'll tell you more about it in a bit....

After meeting up with César and Petra, they recommended us the cutest hostel where we could spend the night.  It was only $10/person! The room had a queen bed and bunk beds, as well as a bathroom with a shower (with hot water!).  I forgot to take pics of the room, but it was very nice and very clean and even had a TV mounted on the wall across from the bed! Here is a pic of the inside of the hostel, from the balcony of our room. 

Here's the courtyard in the middle. Each room had windows facing the courtyard, as well as a beautiful view of the mountains!

Hostels in Ecuador are more like hotel rooms I suppose, each room has it's own key and private bathroom, unlike what you might think of when you think of a European hostel...

 After getting a room we had dinner with César and Petra at Petra's apartment, which was only about a block away.  We used three of these little raclettes, which are kinda like...hmm, well, little grills almost that sit atop of tea candles.  They're surprisingly effective, haha, it was so fun! You heat a slice of cheese on the raclette, which we topped with onions and mushrooms, and after it melted we scraped it all off onto some boiled potatoes.  Delicious!  Petra also made a wonderful salad with avocado, carrots, and olives, and we shared a bottle of cabernet sauvignon/ merlot wine.  I wish I had taken some pictures of our dinner and her adorable apartment!  Her stove looked like a toy! To top it all off, we had some chocolate, Swiss of course! De-lish.

After dinner we headed out for a couple of drinks at a local bar called El Fauno.  They had amazing mojitos- only $2.50! Chino and I got to meet some of Petra's friends, including her partner in crime at the Cafetcétera Otavalo ( I believe her name was Rahel).  I thought it was so cool that we were all hanging out speaking three different languages! Spanish, English, and Swiss German.  It really is a small world, and it's always great to meet new people.  As usual, everyone got a kick out of the fact that I'm from Springfield, since everyone is a huge Simpson's fan! There hasn't be a single time that I've mentioned Springfield that people haven't said- "Oh! Where the Simpson's live!" Haha

Petra y Cesar

 The next morning we went to Cafetcétera Otavalo- we were the only customers! The menu includes foods from all over the world, with fun names for each item, such as Heidi and Peter for the Swiss one, or Barack and Michelle.  The prices were great!

Chino and I both ordered the Tu y yo (you and I), which consisted of a slice of bread with butter and jelly, eggs (which we got scrambled), juice, and coffee or hot chocolate.  Cesar and Petra both made everything right there- we even got to see Petra slice the pineapple for Chino's fresh pineapple juice! So good.  I also ordered the Janis and Jimmy, which was basically a huge bowl of yogurt parfait with freshly sliced fruit and honey on top. I can't believe I ate everything! The whole meal for both of us cost only $7.

Soo, if anyone's ever in Otavalo, Cafetcétera is definitely a must! We really enjoyed it :)

After a quick stop at the Sunday marketplace, Chino and I decided to catch a bus home so we could make it to our usual mass at 5:00.  We hopped on a bus to Quito with our bag...only to find there were no seats! And the trip from Otavalo to Quito is 2 hours! Luckily, the bus driver was super nice and let us sit right behind his seat, which had a little cushion.  It was probably the best seat in the house, and we got a great view of the drive home from behind the driver!

They had goofy 80's music playing on repeat the whole bus ride home (which actually only took us an hour and a half, since our driver was a bit of a maniac), which included Ace of Base's "I saw the sign" and a bunch of other really random 80's songs I had never even heard of before.  When we finally made it to Quito, a trip which only cost us $2.50 each, we hopped in a cab to Cumbaya and were finally home!  We were both exhausted from such a busy weekend, and mass was a nice time-out from all the hustle bustle. 

And THAT concludes our trip to Otavalo! Sorry for such an enormously long post! We had such a great time- I hope you've enjoyed reading about it too :)

We have nothing too exciting planned for the next couple of days, besides meeting up with some more of Chino's friends for drinks (tonight) and lunch (tomorrow).  We'll be leaving for the beach town called Same on Thursday, where Chino's family owns a beach house in a little area called Casa Blanca, where all the buildings are painted white.  It's a trip I look forward to every time I come to Ecuador, as I love beach food and lounging in the sun by the ocean.  Unfortunately I won't have any internet access to tell you about it until we get back in a week! I'll post at least once more before I leave, though, to say hasta luego (until later!).

Miss you all!!
Xoxo