Otavalo: A Fantastic, Sleepy, Little Town

Otavalo: A Fantastic, Sleepy, Little Town.
June 29.

I like you Ecuador.  I like your people.  I like your scenery.  I like how cheap things are.  Your women are beautiful.  Spending $2.50 on a daily set menu with soup, a plate of food and a drink is awesome.  You possess the Galapagos.  You have this wonderful little town called Otavalo that makes me happy.  The only knock I have on you is your terrible watery beer.  I hope that will be recouped in time as I would like you to be flawless.

It was a casual day today of chilling out in this town, Otavalo, that has decided to be sort of perfect.  There are not too many gringos around, and it is just a comfortable place to be.  I went for an entire afternoon walk to Laguna San Pablo, which was just behind a massive town behind the town.  But, it was next to another town and I ended up walking through three different communities today.  In every town the people were so friendly and happy to say hello to me walking down their streets.  People in gardens stopped hoeing to ask me how I am in Spanish.  It was great.  There was a place where there was cow shit on the sidewalk in the town.  That is getting pretty close to home for me.  I found the lagoon and went for a 15 minute boat ride for $1 where I made friends with a Ecuadorian family.  On the boat a father was disciplining his misbehaving child but he was doing it in English, I guess to make sure that I understood what the punishment was for and I would not be the gringo upset at seeing the discipline.  It was sort of peculiar for me to hear him do it in English.  Also, I found out today that Ecuadorians say “Cheese” when getting pictures taken.  I guess “Queso” does not work as well.

I found a group of five men gathered around a table playing a Winnie the Poo game, which I enjoyed the absurdity of.  I walked on further and eventually got on a bus for $0.25 to take me back to Otavalo and as we drove past the men playing the Winnie the Poo game there was a crowd of about spectators taking in the dramatic action.  It was ridiculous.
$1 – 15 minute boat ride around Laguna San Pablo
$10 – Hostel Chasqui private room for the night.
$0.25 – Bus ride around Otavalo
$1.50 – Meal at the central market in the evening.