For hundreds of years, Otavalo in Ecuador has hosted one of the most important markets in the Andes, a weekly fiesta that celebrates the gods of commerce.
Vendors sell their handmade traditional crafts, and yummy local food; the smell of fresh spices, chicken, fish and rice fill the air.
The most famous time to go is on Saturday and it has become something of a must-see destination for tourists from all around the world. This was the first stop on our Ecuadorian adventure! We hired a private cab which was 60$ person for the 2 hr ride up there, but we also went to check out Lake Cuicocha.
This Lake is also known as the lake of guinea pigs. It was given this name due to the guinea pig shape of the largest Island in the middle of the laguna. This lake is 2 mi wide and it sits at the foot of the Cotacachi Volcano.
Following our day trip to Otavalo, we returned to Quito to take the TelefériQo cable car which runs up the foothills of Pichincha Volcano and offers a crazy view of Quito. It was pretty cloudy when we got to the very top – but if you ever make it and get a clear shot, send them over – I would love to see! Here is an image of what you would be riding.
Note in case you are prone to altitude sickness it does rise from 10,226 ft to 12,943ft making it one of the highest aerial lifts in the world! PS. I closed my eyes the entire way up! 😋 A cloud completely covered us as we got to the top so our view wasn’t as spectacular as we expected (2.5$ to enter park and 8.5$ to ride to the top)
Once we returned to our hostel, we rested then ventured out looking for dinner, we saw these two older women cooking in their doorway so we decided to try it out and it was muy delicioso! There is something about wandering the streets and stumbling by the real locally owned restaurant – a true experience!
I know it shows one empanada, but I ended up having like 3 😉 it was that good!
After dinner, we headed out to join about a group of 25 people from our hostel to pub crawl through the streets of Quito!
Miss Intl 