Viva las Américas!: The Otavalo hills are alive with the sound of Salsa!

Otavalo is an absolute gem of a town. I only arranged to stop here for 3 nights on the recommendation of another traveller to break up the journey from Popayan to Quito. I had no idea there was so many great things to see and do here. Our hostel was called Rose Cottage, set about 1.3kms out of Otavalo town. Kind of a nuisance in the sense that you have to get a taxi back to the hostel all the time as it’s quite a walk uphill, but fantastic in the sense that the scenery is like something from The Sound of Music; the hostel is a series of cottages set on a hilltop overlooking the town and surrounded by mountain peaks. Amazing. On a sunny day you can even see the snow-covered peaks of the Ecuadorean Andes. The hostel had its own donkey and several dogs, all of whom love to be showered with attention, and the donkey will be your alarm clock in the morning. I’m convinced he could tell time with his “hee-haws”. The price of a room includes breakfast which is croissants with butter and jam, tea or coffee and fresh juice of the day, which is usually something exotic and delicious. You can get pancakes or eggs or granola etc for about $3 extra.

Otavalo is known as a market town, especially for the Saturday market which attracts sellers from all over the country. You can get everything from clothes to jewellery, bags, rugs, hammocks, scarves, tapestries, artwork, local crafts and indigenous dress. But what most tourists seem to love about the place is seeing the local people in their traditional clothing; the men with their long plaited ponytails and hats and the women in a flouncy frilly blouse, long skirt and waist belt with some strange looking folded cloth hats on their heads. It’s great just to people watch and to try and get the odd sneaky photo, but it is always considered polite to ask if you can take their photo before you do it. Some locals do not like it at all! The smells of the freshly cooked food from food stalls will you’re your mouth water. Kev and I got two plates full of chicken, rice, pasta, salad and potato cakes and 3 drinks for the princely sum of $4. Mucho bargain. The street food is so good here that you can easily survive on about $10 or less a day for food; you’ll never eat in a restaurant again! Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s great to look around and haggle over things you’re tempted buy; and a great way to practice your Spanish.

There is also sooooo much hiking and trekking to be done here too. Myself, Kev and English-Welsh couple Tom and Catrin decided to go see Lagunda de Mojanda, not far from our hostel. Our hostel arranged a local taxi guy to bring us all up and back for $24; $6 a piece, so it’s always better to go as a group. We had planned just to go see the lake and the surrounds, take a few photos, but the taxi man told us that by climbing the Fuya Fuya mountain we could get great views of the surrounding countryside and some other lakes. When we saw the mountain top it didn’t look too steep and we thought “game on”, but we did have to consider the altitude; 4263m. Otavalo itself though is at 2800m, so when you think of it we were already at altitude, so we thought we’d give it a go and just take our time. The entire trek to the top is 1.93kms, so you really have to pace yourself. I’ve climbed a few mountains in my day, but mainly Irish ones no higher than a little over 1000m tall, so this was a challenge for me. The ascent took us 1.5 hours, with the obligatory rest stops and photo op stops. The last 200m is tough on the heart and lungs, but it’s all grassy vegetation, so you can pull yourself up by the tufts of grass! The views from the top are unbelievable, especially on the unexpected sunny day we got. In pure Aoife-style though I got a bit shaky at the top, took my photos and then sat on the ground before it was time to go back down. We went down what we think was the South Face of the mountain, which included a very steep, heart-in-mouth rocky descent for about 10m, which turned me into a teary mess, but once that’s over, the rest is plain sailing down a more gentle slope than the one we climbed up. The views at all stages of the climb are immensely impressive and despite being very much a big girl’s blouse, I thoroughly enjoyed the climb. We just totally underestimated how much altitude can affect one’s ability to “soak up the rays”; we all got roasted alive!

We also made a quick and very cheap journey to Cotacachi by bus, 25cents to be exact. Cotacachi is a cute little town, surrounded by volcanic peaks and famous for its leather produce, but we were there to see the Crater Lake. It was a $5 taxi ride there and back and the views are great, but if you’re only staying to see the lake, maybe get the taxi to hang on for you, cos you can have your photos taken in 5 mins. If you want to walk around the lake, that’ll take you a few hours and cost you a few dollars. Kev and I managed to scab a lift off a passing motorist, who tried his best to converse with us in Spanish, considering we’re still only learning. But again, people are SO friendly, and the minute you mention “Irlanda”, they’ll start talking about how beautiful Ireland is and they’ll ask you all sorts of political questions. I guess these South American countries have had their own Independence battles from Spain so they know where we’re coming from.

Otavalo was definitely one of the best stops we’ve made; it’s my favourite place so far. Even just for the relaxing in a bar with a balcony over-looking the market, taking in the mountainous view and chatting with other travellers, it was well worth the journey. And now that we’re in Ecuador, all bus journeys are charged $1 per hour of a journey, so we may just make some more unscheduled stops along the way through Ecuador as travel is so cheap. Loving it here, may not want to leave!!

Where we stayed: Hosteria Rose Cottage http://www.rosecottageecuador.com/visitecuador.html

How much?: $24 per room per night