August 14, 2006 - To the Jungle or is it Otavalo?

Well, it doesn’t seem like any day has gone as it was planned on this trip, and today was no exception. We were scheduled to head to the jungle today, staying tonight at Tena before heading south to Shell Mera the following day. We were packed and ready to go and we had our usual Hotel Los Alpes breakfast. Walter called and was running late but showed up with his taxi after a little while and we loaded our luggage in the back and got in the car, ready to go. That’s when the best laid plans of mice and men, well, you know the rest. Walter pops up his hood and is looking at something with John. He then comes into the car and tells Mom that he has to take the taxi in to get it fixed, so we can’t go to the jungle today, but he’ll get another car and we’ll go to Otavallo today instead. Well, one would think that he’d figure out his taxi needed fixing the night before or sometime before we’re all loaded in and ready to head out, but I guess not. So we take our luggage back into the hotel, call our hotel in Tena to change our reservations, e-mail Shell Mera to see if we can change the night we stay there, arrange to stay at Los Alpes tonight rather than Wednesday night, grab a few things, and we head out with Walter. He takes us to his house, where it turns out we’re using his daughter’s new car to go to Otavalo. We hop in that car, he gets a driver to take his taxi to the Peugeot dealer to be fixed, and we drive to the Peugeot dealer and then head north to Otavalo. We’re just hoping his taxi does get fixed, so we can head to the jungle tomorrow, as any further delays might put a real dent in our jungle visit. Basically at this point we’re flipping our planned Thursday to today and then bumping the jungle trip back a day.

So today we’re now heading north to Otavalo, the famous market town, as well as Agato, where Grandma Cedar had diapers made according to Mom, as well as Cotacachi, known for its leather goods. It’s another mostly clear day, so we have nice views of the Cayambe, Imbabura, and Cotacachi volcanoes as well as Lago San Pablo on the drive north.


Imbabura volcano, I think

We arrive in Otavalo, and there is a sizable marketplace of various goods to purchase, though reports are that the Saturday market is much larger and in fact one of the largest in South America. But today’s smaller market is fine, as there aren’t any crowds to fight. There’s still a very nice selection of items to choose from and we do a bit of shopping at the Otavalo market.

The famous Otavalo market


A lady we did some business with


And another lady we did some business with

Walter has spoken to someone in Otavalo who tells him that the place in Agato that Mom wants to visit is only open on Wednesdays and Sundays, so we can’t visit there. So we then head up to Cotacachi, a little ways northwest of Otavalo, and we do a bit of shopping there for leather goods. It’s now a little past lunchtime so we figure we’ll have a light lunch here in Cotacachi and then have a more substantive birthday dinner tonight for Mom (her birthday is August 25th, but since we won’t be in Ecuador then, we figure we’ll move the celebration forward a bit.

Walter suggests a place called La Mirage in Cotacachi. We arrive and it looks like a real nice place, so we decide to have Mom’s birthday celebration here, rather than waiting to do it somewhere in Quito this evening. We are seated in an area that has a nice view of the garden with flowers and peacocks. The interior of the restaurant is set up with panels and other features so that each table has a good bit of privacy. We do hear a bit of the conversation of some big-whig businessmen next to us talking about doing big business dealing in mining and other areas. The restaurant has the Ecuadorian delicacy cuy (that’s guinea pig to Americans) on the menu, so all three of us decide to order that. As the menu states, cuy is known here as the “Specialty of the Incan Gods”. I should mention that Aunt Janet (Mom’s sister and another native Ecuadorian) graciously gave Mom some money to provide for a very nice birthday celebration for Mom. So thank you to Aunt Janet for this very good meal we had today!


La Mirage

The plates are these big metal plates with some designs around the edge and Mom really likes the doilies (sp?) on the plates. They also ask us where we are from and when I tell them we’re from the U.S.A., they place a little American flag on the table. Then they bring us these warm, damp towels to wipe our hands clean. I think the only other time I’ve done that is once when I flew in first class on an airplane. As usual on this trip, to drink we have agua, sine gas, meaning bottled water without bubbles. They first bring each of us several small, but tasty, pieces of bread. Then things get real interesting, as each of us has a musical box placed in front of us. It sits there playing its music for a few seconds and we look at each other and wonder what this is all about! Well, one of us take a peek inside, and there’s a little plate with a little fork, and a little fried appetizer in each of our musical boxes for us to eat. Mom is particularly taken by this way of having food presented to us.


John contemplating his musical box/appetizer holder

Now it’s time for the main course, and they bring us each a plate with three pieces of cuy on it, as well as potatoes, some avacado in a little hollowed out cucumber piece, and half a tomato filled with some vegetables. The pieces of cuy each have little while coverings on the narrow end of them to be used to pick up each piece. We begin eating and the cuy is quite good, with it tasting a good bit like chicken. It is all quite good and we all finish off our cuy.


The cuy dinner


Mom chomping on some cuy




Then it’s time for dessert, with Mom getting a lavender ice cream desert and I got a dulce de leche assortment, with John happy to get a cup of coffee. The desserts are quite ornate and also taste very good. We finish them off and are quite full and happy. Thanks again Aunt Janet! And good suggestion Walter!


Mom and her lavender ice cream dessert


My dulce de leche dessert


Several of the young Ecuadorean ladies that served us

With that John and I walk out and take a few pictures in the garden and then we hop into the car with Walter. It’s getting later in the afternoon and it’s time to head back to Quito.


Looking back from the garden at La Mirage

We get back to Quito fine, though we had several close calls with people coming near to hitting us. Although we haven’t seen many fender-benders, one thing I won’t miss is the seemingly chronic close calls we experience as all the cars seem the weave around road, often with little recognition of solid yellow lines and such. But we’ve made it so far without problem, so I trust that’ll continue for the rest of the week until we head back to the States.

We are now back at Hotel Los Alpes and we have some clean laundry waiting for us. It’s quite nice, as you leave a bag of dirty laundry on your bed and when you come back later it’s there clean and folded. Not bad! I kinda wish it would work that way back home! We’re still rather full from the scrumptious late lunch we had, so we decide to skip dinner and rest and get ready for what we hope is the beginning of our jungle visit tomorrow. One thing I brought along with me to do when I’ve got some spare time in the evenings is several episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on DVD. Specifically, I’ve got episodes 413 and 414, titled Manhunt in Space and Tormented, respectively. I’ve watched Tormented and will probably watch at least a bit of Manhunt in Space later tonight. And I’m about halfway through my book on the Templars, but I’m holding off some on it so I’ll have some if it to read on the flight home.