Weekend #2

This weekend we went to a famous market near Quito called Otavalo. It has been a market for hundreds of years and is one of the most important market in the Andes.
This is a major tourist attraction so there were tons of tourists. The indigenous sellers sell knitted goods like sweaters (alpaca and wool), hats, socks, finger puppets and ponchos as well as paintings, jewelery, blankets, scarves, carvings and one part of the market sells food. I was very interested and intrigued by the outfits of the indigenous people. The men wear blue or black ponchos with white shirts and hats and the women wear beautifully embroidered white shirts with ruffled sleeves, black skirts, a scarf and many gold necklaces.

Here is a picture of the woman I bought a sweater from. I was quite embarrassed to ask for a pictures but she said she didn't mind at all.

This is a picture of a couple walking by in their traditional clothing. I didn't ask them if I could take a picture.

The next day, after living in Quito for 2 weeks, I finally spent a weekend day in Quito and saw the famous and beautiful old town. First I went to a soccer game with Kibby (friend and housemate from Canada). It was El National (a Quito team) vs. Emelec (a Guayaquil team). The underdog El National won 2 to 0. And the fans were going crazy!

Then we took a walk through the old town. We walked past at least 10 churches and went into 3 of them which were all in very different styles. As we were walking around I could not stop taking pictures. Every corner we turned was another beautiful view of a hill top or a church or an Ecuadorian flag flapping in the wind. It was all breathtaking. Here are just a few of the pictures I took during our afternoon in down town Quito:

On Monday after clinic, we (me, Kibby, Ben and Abe) met up at the Trole station and caught a bus to the tiny town of Papallactas which is known for its thermal bathes. Our host mom told us it was a 1 hour bus ride from the southern bus station but this was not the case and around hour 3 on the bus I was thinking: there is no way this is going to be worth the trip. But surprisingly, it totally was. Papallactas is the cutest little town nestled in the middle of lush green mountains. As we were walking to the pools the little houses had baby chickens and dogs running through the yards. We got to the pools and they were almost deserted and we soaked for 2 hours as the fog rolled over the mountains and the steam rose from the pools. Then we were on the bus for another 3 hours going home. All in all, 8 hours of bus ride for 2 hours of pool time and totally worth it.