As I was waiting at the bus station, a woman put down some baskets and bags next to me. A minute later I heard noises. When I looked down I found I was standing next to a big bag full of live chickens.
I took the bus to Otavalo, which is a town famous for its artisinal craft market. They say the market is biggest on Saturdays. It was not quite as big as I expected – it was quite easy to walk out of what I expected to be a sea of stalls.
Otavalo craft market
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
A new student – N., a girl from the Boston area – showed up at the house late the night before and we went together. The house mother made triple sure we got on the right bus (it takes at least one transfer from Quito center).
For the day’s main attraction, we went to the Parque Condor just outside of the town. It was much like a zoo for birds of prey. The birds are supposedly rescued and bred, and the offspring released into the wild, but there was surprisingly little information on what they actually do. I wished they would toot their own horn a little bit more, rather than just the birds’. We got to watch the great Andean Condor eat its lunch and get a little exercise after. The park is situated on top of a hill and provides great views of the surrounding area.
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
Lunch time!
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
Costs¹
Cost today: $37.10
Cumulative cost: $1,160.36
¹ See this post on methodology.