Bec's Family Travels: The North of Ecuador

This morning we had to be up early as we are travelling to the north of Ecuador about 2-3 hours north of Quito. We had to be ready to go by 7:30 in the morning. So up early and then the breakfast feast.

We had guanavana juice, emborrajados (plantain bananas with cheese battered and fried) and morocho with milk and dulce de leche.

We then went across the street to Aunty Beatrice's house to round everyone up and get in the cars. And we had a surprise visitor of Uncle Trajano, who also came along for the trip.

I took a family picture in Auntie Beatrice's Garden

It was a three hour trip and the scenery has to be seen to be believed, we took a whole bunch of pictures but they just don't do it justice.

We filled up the cars first and over here on a bad day petrol costs $1.40 - $2.00 per gallon, now there are just over 4 liters in a gallon. And everyone is shocked when we tell them how much we pay per litre at home

Here is a street vendor selling custard apples, I think they were 25c - 50c each

And a street vendor selling watermelon 50c a cup ( and the cups were huge)

Some road works being undertaken to widen the road, to coincide with the opening of the new airport.

A weird looking tree and a public bus

Some watermelon gum to tide us over

The view and a tourist bus in need of some work on the suspension

Mountains

Houses built into the sides of mountains these ones are forward facing but there are many that rear facing and right to the edge of the cliff.. very scary looking to live there

The sign for a cafe called the cafe of the cow.

This is a little park we drove past there are little cubby houses everywhere for kids to play in and you can rent little boats to row around the little lake. very cute.

Someone rowing in the lake

Here is a bull fighting ring, these are all over the place, but apparently there is a season for bull fighting. Not that I would go as it's way to cruel...

Here is a country side road.

This road reminded me of the federal highway, just as you turn off the hume to come home to canberra

The cows and more mountains

I believe that mountain is actually a volcano

One of the lakes that we past

a local sitting on the roadside

The sign to the condor park

We arrive in Otavalo

Our first stop was Otavalo, $2.00 for parking $1.00 to pee and 35c for a pepsi

We are looking around the centre at the street markets.

We then went wandering into the centre of the city to the park. Now you know there is something majorly wrong, when in a country like Ecuador the local parks have free WIFI that is 4G..... Step up Australia.

Took some pictures sitting on the fountain, and tried to throw some kids in the fountain

We got a picture with a local Otovalinan girl, in the traditional dress.

A cute flower that I saw

We then went in search of lunch. Which we had in a resturante in the crater of a volcano in Laguna de Culcocha.
The crater is filled with water so we had some great views. But it took a little driving to get there.

Pictures of the water filled crater

There were some little stalls selling various different things and Sian came across these pens with some interesting and different positions being represented

The covers of the menus for lunch

The view from our table before it started to rain

The menu

Tostada ( cooked corn kernals) very nice

Empenada's de Quesso ( cheese in a pastry deep fried). Have tasted better.

I can't remember what this juice is but it looks like narranjilla

Old school coke bottles that are collected, returned to the factory and refilled.

The kids table

It started to rain

Nando and his uncle Trajano

Johanna and her mum Beatrice

Nando's mushroom chicken, with chips, salad, cooked veggies and really sweet cabbage

my chicken like Nandos but with some rather sad looking bacon instead of mushroom sauce, I ended up swapping plates with Nando cause the bacon sucked... I know cardinal sin, but it really did.

Trajano had a whole fish of some sort

Some of the displays in the restaurant

A South American leach climing on the wall..... EWWW but it was outside near the water.

After lunch it had stopped raining so we decided to take the boat trip out on the water and look around the little islands in the crater and see the sulpher bubbles on the other side.

The sulpher bubbles, The water tempreature where the sulpher bubbles are coming out is significantly warmer than the rest of the crater.

The birds that nest in the reeds of the crater

Before this volcano became a national park, you were able to disembark on the two islands in the middle of the crater and walk around them, there were some little shops and resturants for you to rest at in various places. When it became a national park this stopped, however the building still remain there today.

When we got off the boat it was time to head to Cotacatchi, for some power leather shopping.

The girls modeling the snow hats.

Now a problem that we are finding all over the place is that the general population over here are quite short. Which means we are giants to them. finding any type of shoe is nigh on impossible.

We did manage to find Sian a pair of nice leather boots for $50, and we were all measured up to have some leather jakets made. $600 later for 4 leather jackets made to order and mine coming down past my knees, we are rounded up by Johanna as it is past 6pm and we have a long drive back... There were soo many other shops that we didn't have a chance to go into..

Johanna scored a nice new hand bag, a couple of pairs of boots, and a make up bag all in leather. She is a power shopper, and its easy when all the shoes and boots are made in your size.

On the drive down we passed another volcano, and here are some shots as we drove past.