May 1, 2011 Cotacachi, Ecuador and back to Quito

Breakfast and Church Bells

Breakfast at the Land of the Sun was again a lovely experience. The juice was jugo de mora or blackberry juice, the fruit was cantaloupe and I, of course, had aromatica. Then we had quinoa and milk with raisins and then eggs and bacon. It was yummy and pleasant and once again, eaten outside. The church bells were ringing – the hotel is across the street from a church and a convent and we heard church bells a lot, and even more today since it was Sunday. They rang and rang and rang. We tried to count how many times, but always lost track!

The side of the church - across from the hotel

Cotacachi Vegetable Market

We got to spend some time in Cotacachi before we were to leave for Quito and we went to the fruit and vegetable market. It was an open air market with every kind of vegetable you can imagine – beautiful, large heads of cabbage and plantains, and vegetables that I recognized and vegetables that I didn't. Most of the group stopped and had a fig sandwich (which they said was delicious) but I went to the food court since I couldn't have the bread – they had a row of little restaurants nearby. I went to order pulled pork at the place that had the pig heads on either side of the counter where you ordered – they were cooked, but still, you couldn't miss it!

Fig sandwich at the vegetable market in Cotacachi

Vegetables at the market in Cotacachi

My $2.50 lunch

There were a couple of things that were interesting. They wouldn't let me pay when I ordered. I was to order my food and then they would bring it to me, but I was to eat before I paid. They had cold Coke there, which was a pleasure because today was a warm day and cold Coke was a treat and not often found. I ate and then I went to pay for my meal. I had pulled pork on a bed of lettuce and hominy along with fried potatoes and a Coke. The cost of my meal? $2.50. When I went back to the table, there was an old woman who was scraping the leftovers from my plate into her aluminum pot. It was heartbreaking.

There were some beggars there in Cotacachi and Otavalo. I'm sure there were beggars all over, but that is where I saw them – most of them were old women who wanted quarters. I did give away a few quarters while I was there – once I figured out why they were following me around! I'm slow. Anyway, some of them aren't doing too badly because I did see an old woman counting her quarters – she had quite a few from what I could see from a distance. But, there are poor in Ecuador and I certainly don't begrudge them a few quarters so that they can survive. The lady eating my leftovers, though, that was just a pitiful way to have to survive.

Cotacachi Market

After lunch we went to the smaller market in Cotacachi. We shopped. One member of our group (our workshop leader, also named Valerie) had a belt fitted right there at the market. Several of us bought some jewelry from a vendor and he gave us bracelets made from a seed that grows in the Amazon that is supposed to keep away evil spirits. Everything in Ecuador has a story attached to it. It's quite fun to learn all the stories.

Valerie getting a belt fitted at the Cotacachi market

Ecuador Funeral

We walked down "Leather Street" again and looked at the shops and went in a few. One interesting thing, especially since I work for a funeral home was that I got to see a funeral procession in Cotacachi. I wasn't sure at first what was going on because I saw a car backing up the wrong way on a one way street, but it was doing that because the funeral was coming down that one way street the wrong way.

There was a small car with flowers on it at the front and then a pickup truck with flowers. After that was a van with a casket inside and then the priest and mourners walking behind him. After that were a number of cars following the walking mourners.

First car in the funeral procession 

A van served as a hearse. The priest and other mourners walked behind the "hearse".

Back at the Land of the Sun Inn, we had to prepare to leave. It was hard to leave – we'd grown close to the people at the hotel as well as the quaint little Inn. We were told to leave our bags outside our rooms when they were ready and they would be loaded into the bus to go back to Quito with us. I carried some of my own bags down, but Eduardo worked so hard carrying everyone's bags!

 We settled up the hotel bill and the bill was so much lower than anyone expected. The rooms were paid for in our fees that we paid for the tour, so we just paid for some of the meals at the hotel. Most of us had individual bills of  around $20 or less. So, we turned in our keys (real keys not key cards) and paid for our meals and said our sad goodbyes to our new friends in Cotacachi and got on the bus to head back to Quito.

The Trip Back to Quito

So, when we left Cotacachi, we went once again by bus to Quito. The trip is primarily on the Pan American Highway and the roads are nicely paved. There was even a toll or two along the way. On the way back to Quito, we saw the biggest most beautiful rainbow ever. I wish we’d been able to capture it, but try as we might, no one could get it very well from the moving bus.

One interesting thing that I noted was that there were lots of cows, but few fences. Many cows were on tie outs in a yard or field, and some were being herded as we drove past by men on foot. As we got closer in to Quito – and believe me, Quito is not a place I’d like to try to drive – we say a whole family – a mother, a father, and two babies all on one motorcycle – it scared us to see the babies on there like that. No helmets – one baby on front, then the dad driving, another baby, and mom in the rear. The streets were crowded and it just didn’t seem safe, but I guess they are used to it.

We passed the site of the new airport that is being built in Quito. Apparently a Canadian firm is building it. It won’t be ready for a while from the looks of it, but at least it is a little bit out of the city, so it won’t look like you’re landing in the middle of town!

We passed the Super Maxi, which is apparently a large grocery store in Quito and all of us ladies got a chuckle out of that one!

We got back to the Stubel Suites and had dinner. I had corvina (sea bass) and jugo de pina (pineapple juice). We were tired, but still had a lovely time on this, our last night together.