Otavalo, and the Saturday Market

On Saturday we attempted to get up early (it kinda worked), and the four of us and our new friend Madeleine from the States headed off to Otavalo, where there was a big market.  It was about 2 and a half hours away, and the bus journey was mad.  We got a taxi to the bus terminal, but we didn't actually get on the bus there - you just stand at the roundabout outside, and hop on when the bus goes past.  It stops loads along the way, but not just to pick up passangers.  Every 10 or 15 mins someone would hop on the bus, selling anything from water to ice cream to sweets, and then hop off again a little futher down the road.  It was pretty cool.  The road was entirely through the mountains, and provided views to rival the grand canyon.  The first half was really barren and sandy, and then all of a sudden became really lush and green for the second half.

The market itself was all over the town, with hundreds of stalls with clothes, ponchos, crafts, jewellery, and everything else you could think of.  We wandered around for a couple of hours, and bought a few things.  There were food stalls as well, and one of them had roast pigs.  The porkies were just laid out on the table, facing forwards, and the woman were just scooping the meat out of them, until all that was left was a head and an empty carcass.  Cool.

We went for food, and then headed back to Quito.

Mozzie bite status:  Still none.  And the sunburn doesn't hurt so much either.