Ecuador

Welcome to Ecuador

Crossing the border into Ecuador was a true South American Adventure. We took a collectivo with one other lady from Ipiales, Colombia and asked to be dropped off at the border. When we saw the crowds of people, cars, and money-changers, we knew we were there. But hang on a minute - why were we immediately being offered rides to Tulcan, the first town on the Ecuadorian side?

It turns out it is possible to drive from Colombia to Ecuador without being asked for any documents or being stopped at all, which is exactly what our taxi driver did! We got out of the car and gingerly asked the machine-gun-toting Ecuadorian army guards if we could walk back to the Colombian side to get our exit stamps. Once the formalities were taken care of we climbed into a full bus into Tulcan.

If you have been to Niagara Falls, New York, you have essentially been to Tulcan, Ecuador. We were able to find a decent almuerzo before catching a luxurious bus southbound to Otavalo.

Otavalo Market

Otavalo Market

Otavalo is notorious not only for being the first city of any size between Quito and Colombia but also for its large, very wealthy, indigenous population that hosts a daily market with handicrafts and weavings from several Andean communities. For some reason the bus dropped us well outside of Otavalo just as it started to rain and get dark. We were also having some serious trouble finding our AirBnb on Google Maps and none of the taxi drivers had heard of the address. A couple of shop owners turned us away with a frown when we asked to use a phone to call the B&B. When we arrived at the central plaza where the market is held we stopped into a little coffee shop to see if we could use their wifi to call the hosts. The family that owned the coffee shop offered to call for us and when the host picked up the phone realized that it was their very good friend! They were very apologetic about the difficulty finding their place and drove down to pick us up.

Traditional Dress

Otavalo Concert

Our Wonderful Hosts

Magaly and Martin were the most welcoming hosts and their condo was amazing! They gave us loads of tips about touring around Ecuador and even took us to one of the neighbouring towns. I think they took pity on us for not having warm enough clothing as they gave us a wool sweater and hat! We had a great time browsing the market and even got to see a concert in the park.

Bizcochos

Making Bizcochos

Fresh Flowers 

Tailor of Cayambe

The next town we came to, Cayambe, is known for excellent views of the nearby volcano Cayambe, but unfortunately for us it was shrouded in clouds. Fortunately for us we sampled the local treat "bizcocho", chatted with the flower vendors (at 0 degrees 02 minutes N, the proximity to the equator makes this area ideal for growing roses with straight stems), and even found a tailor that fixed James' sandals and our hiking bag for only $10USD!

Quito

Arriving in Quito was like landing on another planet. Although it has a population comparable to Medellin, Quito is much more developed with condos, massive grocery and department stores, and a very developed tourism industry. The highlight is certainly the historical centre complete with churches, plaza, and cobblestones.

No Shadow!

To make our visit even more special it was the equinox and we were essentially right on the equator. The reality of this bizarre situation presented itself when at 12 noon the everyone in Quito began taking pictures of the ground and our almost complete lack of shadow. With everyone bumping into each other, the novelty of the situation quickly wore off.

Quito

Being a vegetarian in South America can be a bit of a struggle. With meat a cheap option on the menu for almost every meal, South Americans don't understand why anyone would not want to eat it. Typical conversations:

• "I'm a vegetarian." "But you eat chicken and pork, right?"
• "Do you have any vegetarian options?" "Yes we have salad or we can make the main dishes without the meat!"

The one saving grace is the prevalent "Veggie Almuerzo". We first encountered such a restaurant in Popayan but thought it was a one-off. Nope. These beacons of vegetarian light in a dark meaty world are everywhere, and people love them. Typically you take your seat at a no-frills cafeteria style table and check out the menu, a whiteboard with 8-10 unrecognizable/untranslate-able dishes in handwriting that looks more like hieroglyphics. You then look around at what everyone else is eating for a few things that look extra tasty and call out to them "Que es eso?" and they kindly point out the dish on the menu. You usually get to choose about 5-7 including salads, soups, mains, juice, and postres (dessert). Typical ingredients are beans, rice, quinoa, tofu, cauliflower, carrots, onion, potatoes, and other fresh fruit and vegetables - all creative and delicious. Meals like this would typically cost a fortune in the usual crunchy granola places on the west coast of North America. But all this veggie goodness can be yours for the low low price of $2-4. Veggie Almuerzos were again abundant in Quito and we even found an Asian Veggie Almuerzo... so good!

We returned to our apartment stuffed to the gills and ready to sit down and do our homework on.... the Galapagos.

Quito Basilica