2. Otavalo
We changed our plans, and did not go to the hot springs. Instead, we're going north, to a really nice town called Otavalo.
Sophie woke up at 6 am (he-he Obviously since we go to bed at. 8 pm)
We jumped on a bus, that took us on a 2 ½ hour long drive through the Andes.
We arrived at Otavala. 10 am. The city is situated in 3000 meters altitude. Our backpacks are pretty heavy, so I sat down at a cafe with all the luggage, while Sophie wandered around town, to find a cheap place we could stay. After an hour she came back, and she had found a few places that might be good, so we took a grib on our bags and walked through town. We found a good hostel for just $ 4, so we threw all our luggage in the room, and went to get something to eat. We got a platter fries which we shared.
We had read, that in the close area of Otavalo, there were 3 cities with some of the indigenous population, descendants of the Incas, so we had decided that the afternoon would be spent on a visit to one of these cities. We jumped on a local bus which went in the right direction. It took half an hour and we paid a little over $ 1 - for the trip. When we got there, Sophie said, "They live in houses" If you live in a house, you cannot be a true Inca. :-)
The city was spreading up the hillside and we decided to go as far up the hill as we could. After fifteen minutes we met a few old Indians, who were on their way home after working in the field. They joined us, and we walked together up the mountain, i gess for half an hour, then they turned, and continued into the woods. We would have liked to see how they lived, but they did not ask us, so we said goodbye.
We were pretty far up the mountain, so we sat down on a big stone for a break, and to drink some water before we would begin the detour. We had only been sitting a few minutes when a man approached us and said hello, he was very curious. He could obviously only speak Spanish (like most people here, it is extremely rare that we meet anyone that speaks anything but spanish) so we had to look everything up in the dictionary, and i think we did good. He told us he was a weaver and did rugs, and asked if we would like to see his work. He lived in the house right where we sat. We went with him into the house ... ... .. And what a house ... ... His wife was there and two small children, the oldest around. 6 years, and i think she was probably retarded, it seemed like she was. She looked as if she was very scared of us. Both children were dirtier than anything I've seen. But both the man and his wife was really sweet. She sat at a spinning wheel and made yarns and he had his big weave next to her. He showed us the carpet he was weaving.
We took some pictures of them and showed them afterwards. They had probably never seen a digital camera before. There was not many things in the house they lived in, no water, no electricity and no furniture. A large dark room. The children just sat on the floor and looked out in the air, while the 2 parents worked on weaving the carpet.
We thanked them, for their welcoming us in their house, and began the long trip down the mountain again.But after 5 min. I felt bad that we did not give them anything, so I started walking back to give them some money. Sophie shouted that I should wait because she wanted to go too. So we went back, we said we wanted to take some more pictures and pretended that was what we paid for.
When we got back to Otavalo, we rested a bit and then went out to eat, we got the best pizza I have tasted for a long time, but we were also hungry. At 9 pm we went to bed and half past nine we were sound asleep.
Friday we desided to give ourselves a decent hikingtrip up to a lake, which is located almost 4000 meters above sea level. We had read that there would be very beautiful. The lake is 17 km from Otavalo so we could obviously not walk all the way up there, walking around and then back again, so we hired a car which could take us the long way up the mountain. Sofie got him down to $ 8 for the trip and what a ride. The entire road up there, was made of small stones, half the size of a cobblestone, in all shapes, glad it was not my car we drove in. I can understand, the driver was a little angry over getting only $ 8. It took approx. 45 minutes to drive there. We had agreed that we would just find another car when we would go down again, otherwise we could just walk.
We started our hike around the lake, and it was fantastically beautiful. There were no other people in sight. So we wondered a little over, how we would get back and down the hill again. We were really in the midle of nowhere. The nearest house was at least 8 km down the mountain.
Suddenly, while we were walking, a man came a man on a bicycle. He stopped and we walked a few km. with him. It turned out that he was from germany. 2 years ago he started his ride in Alaska and within the next half year, he would finish in Argentina. So far he had run over 33000 km. We walked with him for an hour, then we decided to begin our return journey. We wished him a good journey and waved goodbye.
We walked and walked and there was obviously no cars, where would they come from? We had seen a car parked next to the lake, but we did not see whom it belonged too. After walking quite a long time, the German rider suddenly came up behind us on his bike. We talked a little bit before he continued his trip down the mountain. He had speedometer so he told us that we still had 10 km to go, before we were down the hill. But there was nothing else we could do, but just take our bags and continue. 10 minutes later we heard a car, it was the one we had seen at the lake side, We waved and the car stopped immediately. It was an Argentinian tourist who had rented the car and 2 guides to escort him there, and we were immediately allowed to join him.
It was really nice, we had probably walked 15 km, and our legs were screeming for a rest. No it was not that bad, we could well have done the last 10 km, but this was better.
Back in Otavalo, we would pay a little for the trip, but he would'nt allow us, so we said thank you and went immediately to get something to eat. After dinner it was time to relax, so we tucked ourselves in bed and just lay there and listened to some of our music.
The largest market in South America is here in Otavalo. Every Saturday the market is here, so tomorrow morning, we will see it, before heading to a town called Mindo. It lies in the lowlands and there is suppose to be the most amazing rainforest with rivers and waterfalls to swim in and a fantastic birdlife, Hummingbirds and monkeys, and much more. I do not know when it will be possible to write again, but we write as soon as we can.
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