June 24 – 2:48pm
Sarah and I did Vuelta de Oso today. We decided to carry everything we needed for Otavalo and then catch the bus from the trail. This worked out pretty well, because we got to catch one of the mid-day buses which are not nearly as busy as the 7:00am, 7:30am, or 3:00pm buses. We got seats and everything. It was nice for a change.
(Bad news bears ---- No bears heard today)
When we got to Otavalo, Sarah and I went ahead to check in at the Hostel. Another good surprise, we got a double room to ourselves and didn’t have to share a room with the guys this time. Definitely a plus. No farting or mooning to be had. Sweet.
After checking in, we went to find a lunch spot. While walking around we saw a sign boasting a 4-course meal special for $3.80. We were like, “Why the hell not!” This place is called Aly Allpa and specializes (or, so they say) in Grilled cuisine.
So, the 4-course part is kind of a lie. It came with a really nice and hearty soup, a grilled chicken filet with rice and salad, and a piece of chocolate cake. What’s the fourth course? It was the drink… Haha. The meal came with a fresh made blackberry juice. Everything was pretty good, with the exception of the chicken. The chicken filet looked like it had been beaten to a pulp in order to make it flat and appear larger. It also didn’t taste as though a grill had been anywhere near it. The chocolate cake was very good, but it was such a small piece, you really couldn’t enjoy it.
After Sarah and I ate lunch, we went on the search for a couple of things in the market. Sarah is set to climb Machu Picchu in Peru in a couple of weeks and she didn’t pack enough warm clothes. Apparently, Machu Picchu is freezing and it’s a four-day hike to the top. So, we needed to find her a warm hat and a scarf. For cheap. We found her a beanie for $2 and a similar scarf for $3. If I were her, I would have gone for one of the Alpaca scarfs… SOOOO warm.
Once, we found those, we walked past an art vendor with some really amazing work. In Otavalo, if you even remotely show interest in something, the vendor latches onto you like a hawk. This is where Sarah and I became Team-Haggle. The vendor saw four paintings that we liked and pulled them all down for us to look at side-by-side. Once he told us the prices he wanted, we were like “No way.” and went to walk away. He wanted $70 for the painting I wanted and $60 for the painting Sarah wanted. We both weren’t prepared to pay that price. We said we’d pay twenty each, but he wouldn’t have that. Finally, we came to an agreement of $55 for both. We basically got them for over half off, so we were pretty stoked.
I bought more presents for back home and I can’t wait to give them to everybody.
After a little more shopping, we went back to the Hostel to meet up with the guys and Kerry. Then, we went to dinner at Pizza Siciliana (a pizza place Kerry recommended). This is an expensive pizza place… just saying. It might be good but I think $18 for pizza in Ecuador is a bit much, especially considering we had a similar size and quality pizza the week before for $5.80. But, it was for Sarah’s birthday and it was good.
After that, we hit the streets and danced with the locals. This was so fun! Loved it!
Sarah did a birthday Tequila shot. This was the darkest tequila I’ve ever seen. It looked sooooo gross. I don’t know how she got it down. I would have thrown up.
All around, it was a good night!
Love and Andean Bears,
Ashley
No comments:
Post a Comment