Day 4 of our Backroads trip promised to be chock full of fun, and it certainly did not disappoint. After breakfast, we got on our bikes and headed out towards the town of Otavalo. Fortunately, most of the riding was on paved, albeit trafficked roads. Once again, I rode with Yarden to ensure that she was safe. I knew that Amit had enough biking savvy to take care of herself and was enjoying her independence.
Diego, the Zuleta dog that followed a Backroads leader who was hiking, all the way to Cucin, joined us, as did Lucas, the Cucin dog. They were running behind or aside the bikes, which was theoretically ok for a little bit and even sweet and entertaining, but became cause for concern as the longer option was a 20 mile ride! Also, because the dogs were with us, virtually every dog we passed on the way started barking at them and getting territorial. Fortunately, after a few miles they dropped off, and headed back to Cucin.
Yarden was clearly more comfortable on this ride than the previous one, really enjoying herself and we didn't have to stop to rest, so I decided to take pictures while on the bike.
Pretty soon, we were at the kid drop-off point, so they could avoid some uphills, and a crazy, bumpy, sometimes muddy, steep downhill that required concentration and a cool head. Pretty soon we were in Otavalo, where there was a market of local goods. Adults were given 45 minutes to shop, while the kids had a shopping scavenger hunt. Ecuadorian goods were really well priced. I picked up some alpaca blankets for $35 each as well as a lovely wall hanging.
The girls also picked up some fun items, and had a blast bargaining with the vendors. The 45 minutes and then some were soon over, and we got back on our bikes to visit a local weaver who demonstrated Spanish loom and back-strap loom weaving techniques. His designs were beautiful, one moreso than the next.
Diego, the Zuleta dog that followed a Backroads leader who was hiking, all the way to Cucin, joined us, as did Lucas, the Cucin dog. They were running behind or aside the bikes, which was theoretically ok for a little bit and even sweet and entertaining, but became cause for concern as the longer option was a 20 mile ride! Also, because the dogs were with us, virtually every dog we passed on the way started barking at them and getting territorial. Fortunately, after a few miles they dropped off, and headed back to Cucin.
Yarden was clearly more comfortable on this ride than the previous one, really enjoying herself and we didn't have to stop to rest, so I decided to take pictures while on the bike.
Pretty soon, we were at the kid drop-off point, so they could avoid some uphills, and a crazy, bumpy, sometimes muddy, steep downhill that required concentration and a cool head. Pretty soon we were in Otavalo, where there was a market of local goods. Adults were given 45 minutes to shop, while the kids had a shopping scavenger hunt. Ecuadorian goods were really well priced. I picked up some alpaca blankets for $35 each as well as a lovely wall hanging.
 |
| This was NOT the wall hanging! |
 Our next quick stop was at a musical instrument maker, where we were given a demonstration of how the pan pipes are made, as well as a demonstration of how different instruments are played. Ecuadorians have a small 10-string guitar called a Charango. The body of it used to be made out of armadillo, but the Ecuadoran government had outlawed that practice 6 months prior, so the bodies were made out of wood.    We hurried out of the instrument shop and onto our lunch stop, where 2 treats we're awaiting us.
  First was that the owner of the shop, and his band were going to play us some Andean music while we ate.  
The second was that the restaurant had prepared cui (aka guinea pig), a local delicacy for us to try.
Then we were off again, most of the group elected to go straight bck to Cucin and hang out there, but some of us went to see another weaver, a sweet old man named Miguel Andrango, who not only demonstrated back strap weaving for us, but first talked to us about shearing the sheep, washing, carding, spinning and dying the wool, and showing us the tools used for doing so.
I was glad that I hadn't missed the experience. Kai and Ronn also mentioned that all the bed spreads at Hacienda Cucin were woven by him or his family. We had a quick early dinner and finished packing our bags, separating out our warm weather clothes into a smaller bag. Next stop - the Galapagos! |
No comments:
Post a Comment