Otovalo

Last weekend i had my first taste of solo travelling. i had planned to go to a town called Otovalo, which is in the mountains and has a large craft market; originally the plan was to go with katy and sian the other volunteers but katy was poorly on friday evening; and so i decided i'd go on my own. i travelled up on friday in the late afternoon. this was definately the best plan, i got a spectacular view over quito as the sky was totally clear. i was able to see the huge snowcapped volcano rising up behind quito; as the evening sun set on it, the snow changed from a sparkling white to golden yellow to a burnt crimson colour it was totally beautiful. the rest of the journey, until it got too dark to see was equally spectacular; it is difficult to explain just how truely huge the mountains here are, it makes you feel very insignificant. The bus wound its way slowly up the side of the mountains, slowing from time to time so people could jump on and off, speeding up to over take various slower moving vehicules (in manoverures that even i would consider risky!). When i reached Otavalo i too jumped off the bus to find myself in a small town surrounded by locals in traditional dress, both the men and women. They were really friendly and i walked to my hostal with a local couple who were interested to know what i was doing in their country and i was equally interested to just get a closer look at their costume.
i arrived later than i'd planned so i only had tea and feeling tired went to bed, in order to get up early the following day to fully explore the market. i wasn't disappointed, there was loads to see. i bought a bead necklace and a locally woven bag (to carry my school books around in quito) and some alpaka wool-i've decided i'm going to knit a hat for peru- this is what happens when you have no job!! (so i'm currently searching the net for free knitting patterns and instructions!, a little sad i know). later on i bumped into some people i'd met in quito and so we had a long relaxing lunch and then i had to get back to quito for some disco dancing.
Once again i found the scenery on the descent into quito absolutely breath taking, and was able to appreicate it for the entire journey as it wasn't dark. i managed to drink so much in the evening that i even thought that i could salsa!- i really need to take some classes.