I can’t remember my first taxi ride, probably because it was scary, and I’ve blocked it out. I’m guessing that taxi drivers all over the world are about the same. My experience with them is that they are fast, dangerous, and a little nuts. The same goes for taxi drivers in Ecuador. Yesterday we left Vilacabamba via taxi. It took 1 ½ hours from our Hostel to the airport. It was all we expected plus car sickness for 2 hours after. I only had to gasp loudly three times over 1 ½ hours to get him to look up from his phone to see he was driving off the road. We made it though, even with him texting most of the way there. He did slow down when he texted, which I guess was nice, although it was not on purpose.
We were kind of sick of public transportation at this point, mostly because we squeezed in as many places as possible into 2 ½ weeks, which meant a lot of travel time. So, we got to Quito and opted for a rental car! Gringos on the road!
There are two allotted lanes on the roads in Ecuador, but three if you have a good imagination; which all Ecuadorians do (I’m sure this is similar in many countries). Dave drove, although I think I saw the third lane much earlier than he did. He became an Ecuadorian yesterday! Weaving in and out of the lane, passing cars no matter how many yellow solid lines there were, using the horn to tell people it was our right of way. If a car comes while you are in this imaginary lane, everyone just adjusts and three cars seem to fit. Besides our taxi driver yesterday, it does seem that most everyone wants to stay alive; for the most part.
We made it to Otavalo yesterday afternoon. It was a very pretty drive, actually the first pretty area we have seen. Did you know that Ecuador is the number 1 import of roses to the United States during the month of February? Once in Otavalo, it was just like every other city we have been in, but minus the smog, which was very nice. Otherwise, very run down and dirty.
We are staying at Casa Mojanda, the nicest hotel (beside that 12 hour layover hotel in Quito a week ago) we have stayed in, and more of the honeymoon style we were hoping for after our trip into the jungle. We are in a cute cabin, overlooking the farmlands of Otavalo. There is a fire place in our room! How romantic. If it were clear outside, we could see the volcano, which peaked through this morning, and was pretty awesome. Dinner comes with the price of the room, and last night was hands down the best meal we have had since we left the US. We were pretty hungry, since we weren’t sure how to get off the road for a lunch, and had 2 pieces of bread for breakfast at 7am, a small snack at 10am, and then nothing until the dinner at 7pm, but I’m pretty sure the food was actually very tasty. I guess we’ll find out tonight at dinner.
This morning we woke up at 5:45am (not honeymoon style), showered (not sure why) and took our new friend, Gustavo, to the animal market by 7am. It reminded me of Iowa, only up close and personal, and just a tad bit dirtier. Gustavo was shopping for Casa Mojanda. I guess they need 2 more horses, but really he was just our tour guide through cow and horse poop. Although that didn’t make it sound fun, it really was. People travel for hours to get to this market on Saturday mornings to sell and buy their farm animals. We saw horses and calves, cows, bulls, chickens, roosters, chicks, pigs, sows, piglets, dogs, puppies, kittens, rabbits, and of course the ever famous guinea pig (gui) which you can find on many street corners, whole of course, turning on a spit. They are only $7 alive, but I would opt for a whole chicken (who can no longer lay eggs in it’s old age) for $4. The cute two month old piglet is $20, but I really just wanted a puppy. Dave said no; what a downer.
Sorry there are no pictures, it's cold in here and the photos take forever to download. We will send more than you care to see when we get home. Our new camera is taking amazing pictures!
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