It's been a bit of a random start of my overland tour. As we met at a pre-departure meeting, it turned out that one of my co-travellers, a fellow Swede, had been robbed in broad daylight the day before. Computer, camera equipment worth about $7000 and bits and pieces had been stolen from him at Plaza Grande, the very same square I had visited that day. And when we were supposed to set out, already an hour late due to him trying to get replacement gear (which is not easy in Ecuador), we were told the waterpump on the truck had broken down, so we got another three hours delayed.No drama, the equator wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Otavalo, our next destination.We didn't even make out of Quito before the waterpump broke down again. After a while we decided to get a taxi to Mitad del Mundo, which was easier said than done. Rush hour, busy Quito and pouring rain all added up to us not getting a taxi until five-ish. But eventually we got to the equator, got the obligatory shots of straddling the yellow line and when we got back, the truck was ready to go. And who are we? Well, there's the crew: Clare from Oz, Anki from Sweden and tour leader Ross from UK. And the passengers Bernard (pom), Doug, Mel, Drew, Ben (aussies) and Lars (swede). And of course our truck, Cameron.
After a full three hours of sleep the rooster literally called. It was time to visit the animal market in Otavalo. Cows, pigs, llamas, guinea pigs, chicken and ducks were among the stalls and, more often than not, random spots. The smell, the sound and the general feel of the place was an exotic and unique experience. People seemed to heed the old advice on not buying the pig in the sack, but that was mainly a size issue; no moral quarrels arose as the market shoppers and vendors alike stuffed their still waving and breathing and protesting merchandise in nylon bags.Otavalo is a town in the high Andes. Around 50 000 people live there, about half of them hispanic, the other half indigenous. Their main sources of income, besides farming, is handicrafts and tourism. Saturday is a bustling market day, with everything the area has to offer when it comes to handcarved wood and stone, pan pipes, ponchos, woven cloths and so forth and so on. One of the gullible tourists was me, who bought a Panama hat for the surmountable sum of sixteen bucks.As the true patronizers of local workmanship we are, we took a tour to various places where the handicrafts of Ecuador are made. We got to see the processes in which wood, wool, skin and beetle blood was transformed into magnificent pieces of clothing, musical instruments and horse saddles.Btw, there was also a waterfall.
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