Otavalo

 After a quick stop in some great hotsprings, and an overnight in Quito we headed off to Otavalo north of Quito, known for its weekend market and an endless number of hikes.  We vistited small towns in the surrounding area that specialize in hand made leather items.  Everything from shoes and jackets, to horse saddles.  Some pretty nice stuff if you're into leather...

Then we did our first hike, and can you guess the destination; yup another waterfall!  This country has more waterfalls than people I think...

 

Then we climbed up close to the 4000m mark again to a crater lake.  It is so amazing how one day you can be in the amazon jungle, and then the next day you're at altitude up in the mountains in a landscape remeniscent of the Tibetan Plateau

And then another crater lake outside Otavolo... this one not up quite so high.

And then the weekend market.  The big market is for handmade woven items made in (and exported) by the aboriginals in the area.  Mostly made from the fur/wool of llama's and/or alpaca.  I won't bore you with pictures from that market; as I personally had more fun getting up early in the morning and visiting the animal market that starts the day.  Here you can buy nearly any animal they have for offer in the country, and for some pretty decent prices to.  A puppy (which they don't eat!) goes for $3-$6, and a guinnea pig just a few dollars (but the guinnea pig is to eat though!).

Not sure what this is called, but I'll just call it 'scary stew'.  You'd call it the same if you could see what was in it!

Ate lots of pork here in Ecuador, or at least I did... Lunchs carved right off the back of roasted pigs are readily available everywhere!