The first days...

I have been fascinated with Ecuador for several years now and after being told to get it out of my system or get it further in (by my family) I arrived in Quito Thursday evening 10/22. The ride at 10:30 pm from the airport to my hotel in New Town took me through some interesting light industrial areas that at that time of night appeared quite forbidding. But made it to the hotel without any incident an settled in for a couple of nights in Quito.

Friday found me leaving early for Old Town, filled with colonial and pre-colonial churches, government buildings and schools. Many plazas and man does the Equatorial sun shine brightly here. Explored throughout the day and came back to the hotel exhausted, but not so tired not to explore my neighborhood, La Mariscal, which had transformed from the morning of shuttered storefronts to a hopping hip place of restaurants, bars, retail and crowds of young people just gearing up for a Friday evening on the town. I had dinner in a small cafe that had just the mix of people you want to discover while traveling - at one table was a group of 3 Ecuadorian men, probably in their late 30s, all drinking grande Pilsners, and alll smoking one cigar! Boys night out. At another table was a pair of young backpacking women, sipping their beers, and conversing about who knows what, but smiling a lot. The maitre ´d was tapping on her laptop at another table, channeling Sandra Bullock, and then there was this fifty something guy from the states, who in his mind´s eye was re-living his last solo international voyage some 25 years ago, with his family´s blessing. Life was good that evening with a tall mojito and a flank steak dinner, with beautifully steamed local carrots and asparagus all for under $10.00 (the US dollar is the Ecuadorian currency.)

Saturday morning had me headed for the bus station to board the Chicken Bus (autobus de pollo) for an exhilarating and beautiful trip to Otavalo. The Chicken Bus is the main method of transport for people, produce and the occasional fauna. As it leaves the city it continues to pick people up from the side of the road often while still moving. Eventuallythe bus fills up with people, their belongings and even small livestock sprawled around every surface of the bus. But you can´t beat the deal - a 2 hour bus ride for $2. Quito sits in a basin among several volcanos so the views as you leave the city are amazing. The first 45 minutes of the trip to Otavalo is mostly downhill, twisting and turning through swithchbacks and hairpin turns. You are driving exactly on the edge of the Pan American Highway and below you is sheer canyon. I will confess to being terrified at times, especially when we would round a turn, come to a particularly vulnerable piece of the highway and I would be staring at one of those small white crosses on the lip of the cliff, indicating that someone didn´t make it.

Made it with no casualties save for the bruise I raised on my forearm from squeezing it with my hand during some of the more vulnerable maneuvers.

You are traversing through the high Sierra in the Andes and it is scenery like nothing I´ve ever seen before.

I was headed for Otavalo for the biggest Saturday market in South America. More on that next. I´m digging this trip!