Ecuador - June 18, 2023

 Otavalo Day Tour

Even though we had just returned from Chimborazo to Quito, the boys and I departed Saturday morning to experience the Otavalo market. It is the largest indigenous market in South America and the best day to experience it is on Saturday, so we decided that a quick turnaround was going to be worth it. It was an absolutely beautiful day here in Ecuador, just look at this view from our apartment:

While the market was the main attraction for the tour, we got to experience many fun things along the route!

Equator -- The Real One!

As you can imagine, there are many places in Ecuador to claim to be on the equator. While Middle of the World City was a lot of fun, according to GPS, it is not on the equator! Our guide Andrew, from Happy Gringo Tours, took us to the real line of the equator at the Reloj Solar [Sundial] Quitsato:


This place was incredible. There were scientific explanations for everything to help you understand the rotation of the Earth. For example, before you walk to the main exhibit, there is a smaller model where the guide explains the position of the sun and how it affects the seasons. The kids could then also see how the shadow created by the sun can show you what time it is!



Next up was the main attraction! Walking on the real equator, which is also a giant sundial. There were several lookout points so you could take in the entire scope of the clock. 




The museum also boasted a large garden of cactus and agave plants. One of the gardeners happened to be out and gave us a tour of the garden and the plants there. The boys loved looking at the giant agaves and the scary-looking spines on the cactuses!


The tour concluded with another scientific explanation of the Earth and why we see different stars in different hemispheres. All of the guides at this museum were great at engaging Rick and David, asking them questions, and getting them to interact with the exhibits. I loved the way they presented the Earth as North (left of the equator) and South (right of the equator) and then had the constellations mirrored above on the ceiling. 

Miralago

Our next stop was a lookout point of Lago San Pablo. There was a restaurant there that served bizcocho which is a typical food of the region. We also tried queso de hoja (cheese in a leaf), which was delicious!





Otavalo Market

Next up was the main attraction, the market! I wish I had taken a few more pictures, but it was very crowded and I was trying to keep my eye on the boys while they scoped out options for spending their allowance! There were so many handicrafts and it is definitely encouraged to haggle the price down when making a purchase. The boys ended up buying some superhero toys (no surprise there!) while I purchased a wooden chess set (Spanish versus Incas) and a wool blanket.



Cotacachi

We were ready for lunch after our shopping excursion and went to a wonderful restaurant in neighboring Cotacachi. I had the carne colarado (below) and really enjoyed it! The kids were ecstatic that there was an outdoor patio with a small playground and they enjoyed some play time there before we headed to our next stop.




Cascada de Peguche

We continued on our journey to see the waterfall Cascada de Peguche. The hike was beautiful and just the right level for all of us to enjoy without the kids getting too tired! The boys spent quite a bit of time running around and just generally enjoying the outdoors here. One of the best parts about doing this tour as a private tour was that I could go at the kids' pace and we did not feel the need to just rush from stop to stop!


Nanda Manachi

Our final stop before returning to Quito was to a musical instrument demonstration. This was a special treat as one of the members of the group, Nanda Manachi, actually played several instruments for us. We bought a beautiful hand-carved flute in the shape of a turtle. I may live to regret that decision as Rick and David try to learn to play it!





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