While the pictures load at the bottom of the page, I hope you enjoy reading Part V of my journal of our trip to Ecuador.
My Journal of Our 1997 Trip to Ecuador
-- by Donna R. Carter
~*~ Part V ~*~
Otavalo / Cotacachi / San Antonio Saturday/Sunday December 20-21, 1997
My wet hair in Papallacta was not very conducive to good health... I had quite the cold by the time I got up at 5:45 and showered, at breakfast of banana bread and at 7 a.m. we took off for Otavalo, Cotacachi and San Antonio.
Again, Wilson took us on a new route. This one afforded us a *stunning* view of Cayambe. Cotopaxi and Antisana were out once again as well. The weather was *GORGEOUS*
We stopped at the look-out and were awed by Cayambe as I haven't seen it ever before. We took *LOTS* of pictures!
Las Bellas de Mojanda were lovely. The patchwork farmland sweeping up the base of Imbabura was beautiful.
We arrived in a much larger Otavalo than I remembered. We meandered the market, buying wall hangings, llama/vicuña rugs, Tapicerías, a hat for each of us (the sun was burning hot), scrunchies for Melissa, and at last, Fanta, Fioravanti and Orangine before we took off to Cotacachi to look at
the leather.
In Cotacachi, Jeff bought some stuff for his family (can't tell here, because they're getting copies of these posts and it wouldn't be a surprise) ;) I bought 3 identical, but different sized black purses that zipped up into almost nothing but opened up into a nice size purse. We also purchased a set of coasters to match the boxes we had bought at the Mitad del Mundo.
We were getting hungry and didn't know where to eat, so we asked Wilson if he could recommend a place. He knew of a place to eat nearby and took us to "The Mirage" ... a *first class* restaurant in the middle of nowhere – beautiful place! White linen on peach patterned tablecloths, silver dishes with doilies, flowers floating in crystal bowls of water, stained glass windows with hummingbirds... canaries singing in wicker cages, cherubs painted on the walls -- apparently there's also a hotel and gift shop connected with this place. I'd love to go back sometime and spend the night there -- really nice! The waitresses were efficient, dressed in traditional Indian clothes.
Jeff ordered grilled trout again. Melissa had a fried chicken breast and french fries. I had "Delicias Imbabureñas" which was indeed delicious. We had locro de papas for an appetizer (five-potato soup with cheese and ½ an avocado in it). My dinner had a local version of fritada, reddened pork, tostadas, white hominy seasoned with cilantro, llapingachos and rice. Melissa had Tesalia sin gas (that's the other mineral water made by the same place that does Güitig, but it doesn't have carbonation). I had Güitig and Jeff had a coke.
From Cotacachi, we went on to San Antonio and virtually flew around the square, looking for wood carvings.
We ended up with a set of book ends, a beautiful large carved vase, a large wooden plaque and a nativity scene. We also bought a painted butterfly for Melissa. I was kind of disappointed to see so little of what was so common before. Now they are painting a lot of the wood instead of leaving it natural, and a lot of the carvings they used to make mountains of are no longer being made. However, there was still a lot to choose from.
We hurried back to the guest house from San Antonio to be ready to go to a friend's home for dinner. Another friend from school days at Alliance and his mother, took us there. We had a great time chatting over taco salad and a dessert of Apple Betty. Melissa fell asleep right after supper, in one of their bedrooms. We left around 9:30 or so.
We set aside a Sunday to do nothing, in preparation for our longer trip around the country.
Beginning Monday morning we would be heading out to the beach and then, from there, around the country before we returned to Quito again10 days later.
Jeff slept all morning. Melissa and I wrote and talked. We decided to get some lunch around 1:30 or 2, at the old shopping mall, CCI (Centro Comercial Iñaquito). We went to the (new) *WAY* crowded food court. It was *SO* hot.
We ordered at La Tablita del Tártaro (El Tártaro was a rather well-known steak restaurant, for those who don't know Quito... at least, it was when I lived there)... I had wanted to eat at El Tártaro while we were in the country, but this sufficed. Melissa ordered chicken, Jeff a parrillada, and I a bife de tártaro. It was okay, once we were able to find an empty table to eat it at... {laugh} We had to lurk by a table where people were finishing their food in order to get the table as soon as they left. (That was what everyone else who couldn't find a table was doing, too)
After lunch, we dropped by the book store, picked up an Ecuador Guide Book and I found four more CD's I'd been looking for of Jose Luis Rodriguez.
CCI still smells the same as ever inside, even if it doesn't look the same by any stretch of the imagination. Some of the oldies but goodies stores are still there -- Imán, Casa Bolívar Fabrics (and those fabrics still have that same smell, too) ... SuperMaxi has taken over La Favorita (which is nowhere to be found anymore) and there's a *BIG* food court up on the second floor (where we ate) called "Sky Food Court" (or something like that) Downstairs in the CCI is as sweltering hot as it used to be too ... they still haven't gotten the air to circulate very well down there ... but {grin} it's all part of the memories. They're still expanding the mall. I couldn't believe, when I first passed it, that it was actually the CCI
The street it's on has another mall across from it called "El Caracól" ... a "new" (four months in the country) McDonalds (the real one) is on the corner where the (old/new) "La Fuente" used to be ... and in the mall food court they have Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut ... Both sides of the street are crowded with stores up to three stories high, and the whole way around the circle and up to 10 de agosto is full of high-rises -- a MasterCard building, Filanbanco ... the traffic is amazing/horrendous.
You can't get back to HCJB from the CCI the same way you used to because of the trolley going down the middle of 10 de agosto. Now you have to go all the way up to Americas and back down, or all the way down to the old circle by the airport and back up the other end of Americas. 6 to 1, half dozen the other.
We returned to the Guest house and went to bed early. Jeff did go out and get us orange juice and bread for supper before we crashed for the night).
