Otavalo

     The other days in Quito we wandered, saw some more churches, ate food, hung out at home. I'm having a hard time getting motivated to elaborate so I will skip to the good things.

     On a side note, complete strangers have approached us in the street and told us to hold onto our kids. Quito is kinda creepy.

     Friday night 3/6 we had ice cream with a wonderful Ecuadorian family that we met back in Baños. They live in Quito and they took us to a modern suburban mall for ice cream. They even found a boy cousin to join us so Cael would have someone to play with. The kids ran around laughing and got sweaty and Steph and I had coffee with their moms. We all needed some same age entertainment. 

     Saturday 3/7 we did our last road trip. We had a nice Ecuadorian driver take us up in to the hills to Otavalo. It is touted as the largest outdoor market and it did not disappoint. The area is known for its woven, colorful tablecloths and wool wall hangings but there are many other crafts too. The main square and many roads leading up to it are packed with vendors, many in traditional garb. You weave in and out of the maze of cloth draped stalls and haggle them down, they will all eventually go down in price a bit but the prices are usually not too high to begin with. On the way we stopped at a national park at a salt lake but the weather was a bit socked in and we did not get a great view. Then we went to the much applauded Parque Condor where they rescue raptors of all kinds. We just made it for the raptor show. The center is up on top of a big hill and they let two big eagles loose to soar while the presenter talked about them. They got so far away that you would think that they will never come back but then the presenter whistles and they come right back and land on the arm of the keeper right in the middle of the crowd. It is a very nice presentation and you feel the birds are getting to get out and stretch. On the way back our driver loosened up and played his favorite American music for us, the Bee Gees. 

     Drivers in Ecuador are crazy. Stop signs are usually optional. Passing warnings are ignored. The steeper and windier the road, the faster you go, especially if you are a bus. It is okay to honk in exasperation when you are in the middle of a long line of non-moving traffic. We have had many white knuckled moments over these three months. As of this writing we have three more days and I hope for no more adventures, just a smooth ride home. See you back in Seattle in March 11!