After haggling with the police I headed a few hours down the road to Otavalo, a pretty little town set amidst several volcanoes. Along the way the bus got pulled over at a police checkpoint. A lot of people dutifully got off and had their bags searched. I wasn’t about to go through that again, so I just sat there hoping they’d forget about me. They came on and checked my passport, but my bag was forgotten about in the shuffle, thank goodness. I’m going to have to split this country if these searches keep happening – it’s intimidating and imposing. But I think it’s probably only near the border – there has been a lot of guerrilla activity in that area in the last few years. Rick (the guy I walked around San Agustín with) said it was unusual for this not to have happened to me in Colombia – apparently his buses were frequently pulled over.
Back on our way and we dropped in altitude, thereby raising the temperature. Thank gawd – that border town I stayed in the first night was freeeezing. But as in La Ceiba, the bus went flying by my destination. Odd, since Otavalo is the biggest town around. I’m thinking oh, there must be a bus station outside of town, I’ll just wait. But after several more kilometres, I go up and ask the conductor, “I’m going to Otavalo, wasn’t that Otavalo back there?” No, he says, it’s coming up. Huh, there sure were a lot of signs for Otavalo. Maybe there are two of them?! Then I start asking other passengers – “Otavalo? It’s way back there!” This conductor was on crack. He kept insisting it was in front of us. Finally he dropped me in the middle of the highway, and I flagged down another bus going back to Otavalo. I think this country is testing me.
I decided to try one of the hostels listed in hosteltrail.com, my new favorite site. This place wasn’t listed in my guidebook, but I was glad I took the chance. Check it out – my own private room with TV including bathroom with hot water, good quality bed, windows on both walls, free laundry, use of kitchen, etc – $7/night. Wow! I’m loving Ecuador already. The sun was in “golden hour”, and the hostel has a 360 degree view over the town. Absolutely gorgeous.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into things having only been in Ecuador for 48 hours, but already I notice differences from Colombia – the vibe seems to be much mellower. Take the garbage trucks – in Colombia, they incessantly clang a loud bell telling you to bring out your garbage as it rolls down the street. Here, the sound is akin to glass harps. It’s beautiful – I went chasing for blocks after the music, only to discover it was coming from the garbage truck! There is a lot less honking, and generally people are relaxed and chill. It reminds me of crossing into Belize from Guatemala – releasing the pressure. I may revise my opinion tomorrow when I roll into Quito, but for the moment I have a great opinion of the country.
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