Market day in the Andes

I guess a lot happened since the last time I wrote. First of all, we were able to find a place to stay in Popayan. We met a nice family who let us stay in the driveway of their house and taste homemade marmalade. Diana and her husband did not only let us sleep there; she also invited us to have breakfast in the morning at the hotel she manages, La Loma

Like always, we wished we could have stay longer, and get a better feeling of the place in the evening, but we had to be on our way, and around 1 p.m., we were back on the Pan-American, in direction of Pasto.

The drive down there, through the mountains was pretty, especially close to twilight, when the rain and light changed the surrounding landscape.

Eventually, in Pasto, we set camp in a truck parking lot which GPS coordinates was given to us by our French friends who camped there the day before on their way south.

Temperatures are getting colder as we advance, which get us worry about the cold we will meet in Peru and Bolivia.

The following day, as we got closer to the Ecuadorian border, we exited the main road to visit the Santuario Las Lajas close to Ipiales.

After cooking a quick lunch, we speeded to the border, anxious as always at the idea of the long waiting time. As a matter of fact, it could have been worst, and we were done with everything in three hours. The whole process was free. It is always exciting to get to a new country. Perhaps because such an adventure could stop at any time if something bad enough happen, and the further I am, the best I feel.

We decided to drive a bit in the darkness for once, as I wanted to be at a lower – and warmer –altitude. Once in Ibarra, feeling dirty and attracted by low prices of hotels, we decided to check in and enjoy a warm shower. It did cost us US$6 per person at the Hotel Imbabura (recommended). There were some nice restaurants in town, and it was great to relax after another long day of driving. When I woke up, I continued to work on the AP story I’m schedule to send soon about our travel through Central America. There are some great bakeries since we arrived to Colombia, and again, we took advantage of it. There is only one sad thing I would like people to explain to me. Why would you be in the area where the best coffee beans in the world are grown, and you regularly are offered Nescafe in coffee shops?

Anyhow, we were ready to get back on the road. This time, cap on Otavalo, a close-by village in the mountain famous for its Saturday animal and craft markets. The markets date back to pre-Incas time where people from the lowlands were coming up to exchange goods with people from the mountain.

I have to say, the animal market was by far my favorite, and the craft market, oriented toward the tourist crowds didn’t offer anything amazing. I saw more seducing hand-knit goods in San Cristobal, Mexico, for example. It is recommended to wake up early to see the best of the animal market, and to avoid the tourist buses coming up from Quito.

In the small town, we stayed in the hotel, Residencia El Rancio, for US$5 per person. Yes, that’s right, two hotel nights in a row. As you guess, we are dreading the cold, and taking advantage of cheap places as we can. But don’t worry, soon enough your favorite travelers will be back under the rain.

At 10 a.m., we were on our way to cross the equator line. We passed it around noon, on the Pan-American. Nothing much to see there, and in addition, we were on our way to pick up another traveler who will spend time with us in the upcoming weeks. Dan was arriving at 1:30 p.m. at the Quito airport. It was raining hard as we were going down south.