Otavalo - June 4 and 5

Monday June 4 saw us leave Tena and the Amazon region and drive for 8 to 9 hours through the magnificent Ecuadorian scenery to Otavalo. We noted a number of landslides marring the magnificent mountain scenery. Apparently these are quite common in the rainy season. The local people are Otavaleños. Otavalo is a small town of about 43,648 people (according to the sign driving into town). Its narrow streets are paved, the buildings are brick and block and look quite prosperous, and shopping is great. The people are most wonderful. They go out of their way to talk to greet you and make you feel welcome. For example, Ray and I were walking along a small street and a young girl coming towards us suddenly looked up at us and smiling, stared straight into our eyes, said "ola", as she passed by. In another shop, a gentleman who spoke English came up to see if he could help us. We chatted with him for a while and went on our way. In another shop, someone said "hello" to me. I realized it was the same gentleman. The best part, is there are no expectations. They are not trying to sell you anything, they are just genuinely welcoming.

We arrived last night about 5 p.m. and had a quick walk around town before having dinner and heading off to bed around 9.30. I think a lot of people were still tired from the day´s rafting in Tena! This morning we were up around 8 and headed out to do some shopping. We walked all around the town, saw some churches, the town hall, and of course the markets. The best market day is supposed to be Saturday, however, there were still lots of stalls of textiles, Panama hats, and other tourist items there today. We concentrated on the artisans market and purchased some nice presents to take back to Canada with us.

The Otavaleños are famous for their textile weaving. Due to their history, they have become one of the most economically successful indegenous peoples in Ecuador, and maybe South America, and have held proudly on to their culture throughout the ages. The ladies still wear the exquisite traditional dress consisting of beautifully embroidered white blouses, colourful skirts, and beaded necklaces, while the men have long braided dark hair, and wear calf-length white trousers, ponchos, and sandals. The story is that starting in the 1550s, the Spanish forced the Otavaleños to learn to weave and after independence their ingenuity brought them worldwide fame for their weaving. Under Spanish rule, their goods were made in "obraje" or workshops, now however, it is a cottage industry. Most of their goods are made from sheep wool or the more expensive alpaca wool and are brightly coloured with reds, mauves, greens, blues, brown, and black.

Sadly, we do not have any more time in this area, but it is certainly one that is very beautiful and has much to offer.

Tomorrow, we leave for Quito. We are due to arrive there around 5 p.m. We have to sort out our Galapagos tickets, pack for the Galapagos, and of course attend our group´s farewell dinner. Then on Thursday morning we fly out to the Galapagos at 9.30 a.m. I am not sure if there will be any possibility of communication before we come back from our 5 day boat trip on the 12th. We fly home on the 14th June in the evening, and I will try and do an update before we finish this fantastic trip.

**UPDATE*** The following note came from: https://www.brendansadventures.com/travel-guides/ecuador-travel-guides/tena-ecuador/
 "Please note that due to a very unfortunate incident on October 21, 2011 the Shangri-La Lodge burned to the ground.  Julio will still be able to offer you excursions in other locations… but the Shangri-La is no longer.  I will update once it has been decided it the lodge will be reconstructed. We are very sad about the fire, and my heart goes out to my very good friends who run the lodge."