Just before I left Quito I went up the mountain to the north of the city which is overlooked by the Pichincha Volcano. The Teleferiquo is a cable car which takes you up to to 4000m where on sunny days there are some amazing views of the volcano and city. Although cloudy at the time, I really enjoyed it. The air was cool and thin which impeded walking too far but there were so many artistic photographs to be had of various plants etc and I really did not need to go far atall. I sat up there for ages watching the clouds roll in over the mountain, humming birds feed on a nearby flowering shrub and just generally soaking up the peaceful atmoshphere. On ascent I shared the cable car with a local guy who was on his way up with his mountain bike for a last practice before a competition the next day. From above he showed me some of the thin bike trails down and I have to say that looked so cool...next time maybe?
The night before I left Quito I met up with the overlanding tour company named Dragoman. Funnily enough the main reason for booking myself on the tour (before I left England) was to provide immigration with proof of an onward journey within 90 days of entering Ecuador, of which was not requested at the time! Nonetheless it has turned out to be a great investment and really helped me to see alot of the continent in a small amount of time.
There are two overland trucks running side by side with about 7 clients on each truck but this number increases as they progress around South America. As w drove out of Quito we stopped off at Mitel De Mundo on the equator. This little tourist spot is one of two Middle of the World´s, although the one we visited corresponds with GPS. We had a guide who showed us around the various demonstration huts explaining the historic native culture and engaging us in activites such as walking on a straight line along the equator line, demonstrating how the water cycles down the plug hole in opposite directions either side of the equator line and goes straight down when situated on the line. After the tour we set off again, heading for Otavalo which is a largely indigenous town surrounded by the peaks of three volcanoes. Following a good nights sleep we were taken out on a tour by a local guide who showed us a nearby waterfall and drove us up the mountain into the local farming communities. The Otavaleños are famous for weaving textiles, in particular woolen textiles and we visited a beautiful shop where we met a weaving family busily weaving away at the time. They showed us how they weave and continue to use natural dyes by demonstarting how crushed beetles extracted from one of their garden plants produce a red dye when crushed. We also stopped off at a local music shop where the family gave us a musical demostration using traditional insturments. As we passed through the villages it was obvious that tourism had become significant to the local communities and had bought with it more wealth. A lot of the houses were significantly larger and made of better materials than those I had seen in the jungle. In addition to this, the agricultural plots were significantly larger, although I observed many groups of locals in traditional dress farming in their terraced fields with only hand tools to assist them. So when you move away from the shopping centre of Otavalo where the infamous market can be found selling all sorts of wonderfuly coloured weaved items, you find a traditional way of life continues to exist. Little knowledge nugget: the Otavaleños were used as slaves to make goods to build the empires during the spanish
inquisition.
The night before I left Quito I met up with the overlanding tour company named Dragoman. Funnily enough the main reason for booking myself on the tour (before I left England) was to provide immigration with proof of an onward journey within 90 days of entering Ecuador, of which was not requested at the time! Nonetheless it has turned out to be a great investment and really helped me to see alot of the continent in a small amount of time.
There are two overland trucks running side by side with about 7 clients on each truck but this number increases as they progress around South America. As w drove out of Quito we stopped off at Mitel De Mundo on the equator. This little tourist spot is one of two Middle of the World´s, although the one we visited corresponds with GPS. We had a guide who showed us around the various demonstration huts explaining the historic native culture and engaging us in activites such as walking on a straight line along the equator line, demonstrating how the water cycles down the plug hole in opposite directions either side of the equator line and goes straight down when situated on the line. After the tour we set off again, heading for Otavalo which is a largely indigenous town surrounded by the peaks of three volcanoes. Following a good nights sleep we were taken out on a tour by a local guide who showed us a nearby waterfall and drove us up the mountain into the local farming communities. The Otavaleños are famous for weaving textiles, in particular woolen textiles and we visited a beautiful shop where we met a weaving family busily weaving away at the time. They showed us how they weave and continue to use natural dyes by demonstarting how crushed beetles extracted from one of their garden plants produce a red dye when crushed. We also stopped off at a local music shop where the family gave us a musical demostration using traditional insturments. As we passed through the villages it was obvious that tourism had become significant to the local communities and had bought with it more wealth. A lot of the houses were significantly larger and made of better materials than those I had seen in the jungle. In addition to this, the agricultural plots were significantly larger, although I observed many groups of locals in traditional dress farming in their terraced fields with only hand tools to assist them. So when you move away from the shopping centre of Otavalo where the infamous market can be found selling all sorts of wonderfuly coloured weaved items, you find a traditional way of life continues to exist. Little knowledge nugget: the Otavaleños were used as slaves to make goods to build the empires during the spanish
inquisition.
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