Extra 9: Kunnialla loppuun - Ecuador

Ecuador - we are nice people

Promises are to keep, so I try to finish this blog someday. Here are the few Ecuador pics of the 4 short days I spent there, quickly getting to know Otavalo and Quito!

Otavalo was all about traditions meeting modernity. You could see indiginous people everywhere and hear their languages everywhere. They sell great crafts on the market square and so the region has gained more wealth than other indigenous regions. On arriving I was actually very suprised of how nice the town looked, after seeing a few grey and ugly places. I also liked the relaxed feeling of the town and was working hard on understanding that I actually was in Ecuador - everything seemed totally similar to Southern Colombia.

crafts. a good place to spend all your money... even though I spent it mainly on jewellery.

Then I moved on to Quito, by a shared taxi with some lovely local grandmas who told me stories and gave me candy (and the other one had even been to Sweden! imagine that) and was getting scared, as everyone had told me these "oh Quito is so dangerous, you'll get robbed for sure"-stories. Then I got there and nothing seemed dangerous. The bus system was eventually easy to follow, I walked aaaaa lot,visited some boring malls (the worst shopping options I had seen in LatAm), went to a crafts market, ate good food and drank a lof of juices (my last chance!!), visited museums, got to know the old town..

which indeed was beatiful, with many churches, plazas, lovely buildings.

I did a daytrip to the Ecuador line, which is a small village-world build for tourist with statues, museums etc. As while in Chile I also visited the Tropic of Capricorn, I'm only lacking the Tropic of Cancer. As it would mean anything actually.

The gringo corners of the rich barrios where all the hostels and gringo hangouts were; not something I that much would support, but it was quite gozy.

As you see, it wasn't much that I got to see of Ecuador. Maybe I'll get an other chance someday. Ojalá.