Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ecuador 2005-Quito, Amazon, Otavalo (Sights)

Quito
We spent a few days in Quito and rambled along the old town visiting la Igelsia de la Merced and the Museco National de Arte Colonial.  The square, pictured above, always had something going on. 

 On another day, the square was the site of a protest.
I hadn't brought appropriate clothes for the trip and bought a pair of shorts from this lady.

And I also forgot shampoo-here's what a local store looks like!


Some locals adopted us one of our nights out and took us to karaoke in the new town.  The night life in Quito was actually way funner than anything we expected. Lot of places with an easy bohemian vibe.
We stayed at La Casa Sol . . .super cute.

Sights Around Quito

Otavalo
We took a bus here which was a bit of an adventure was we completely went past it!  There were a ton of textiles here and we got a pair of traveling pants and a light weight blanket.


La Mitad del Mundo!  The Equator!


Yes! Kai is standing on the middle of the world.






Cotopaxi

This was awesome.  You could literally hike up from the parking lot all the way to the bottom of where the snow line was!  This is one of the highest active volcano's in the world.  Not for those that can't handle high altitudes though-a group of 10 year olds ran up and down before I made it 50 steps.
Lagunas de Mojanda
 and finally . . . pictures of the Amazon!
Okay-so this area isn't officially the Amazon as the Amazon river doesn't flow through it but the river, the Rio Napo, is a tributary of it and the area is known as the Amazonian jungle.  We stayed at Yachana eco Lodge which we picked since the owner is super interested in community building and working with the locals to try to develop the resources of the Amazon sustainably.   


Our guide had grown up in the rainforest and his father had been a village shaman.  He had the best vision EVER-he could spot a needle in a haystack I bet.




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