On the morning of the 26th, we arrived in the south of Quito and took public transit to the north end to meet our friend Luis from Galapagos for lunch. After a pleasant visit, we hopped a bus to Otavalo, arriving in time for a walk around town before dinner.
Otavalo is a busy market town with daily food and craft markets, and a Saturday live animal market. Our first day was Friday, and the town was relatively quiet giving us a head-start at the crafts market before the Saturday crush.
After a bit of shopping, we took a cab to Parque Condor, a Dutch-owned rehabilitation centre for birds of prey and vultures. We saw an amazing number of birds, including hawks, eagles, owls and the famous Andean condor.
We were there for the 11:30am flight demonstration which was very entertaining as they flew several birds, including a Harris hawk and a black-chested buzzard eagle.
The most amusing was the Carunculated Caracara which had imprinted on humans and followed the trainer around like a needy child.
Back to town for lunch at the market and more shopping.
That evening we had dinner with a mother-daughter team from England who we had seen previously on the train to the Devil’s Nose. It is not uncommon when travelling in a small country like Ecuador to cross paths with some of the same people you’ve met before.
On Saturday we visited the animal market before breakfast as the activity starts early. Hundreds of Ecuadorian farmers come to buy and sell chickens, pigs, cattle, rabbits, and cuy… you know, that North American pet, the guinea pig. The big difference here is that cuy is a national delicacy. I have not tried cuy yet, although I am under some pressure to do so.
Most fun were the pigs which can cause a huge racket when they are prodded or pulled, pushed or slapped to get them to come along.
At lunch when we were trying to decide where to eat, we stumbled upon a restaurant that was showing the football match between Manchester United and Barcelona. What took us by surprise was that the loudest cheering was for Man. U.
We retired early on Saturday night to be ready at dawn for the 11-hour bus ride to Lago Agrio, the starting point for our Amazon canoe trip.
For more photos, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/sataylor/sets/72157626701458081/
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