Helen in Charge

Finally I have met someone who speaks less Spanish than me, which feels pretty good, at last! So I am doing things, buying tickets and asking questions without feeling that everyone is sighing at my slow progress through the sentences.

That said, other things have changed too. For starters... I am no longer in Colombia! Wow! I am in Ecuador. It has been a bit of a mad rush to get here because we wanted to hit the market in Otavalo this morning. We is me and a French guy, Eric, who I bumped into just after buying my bus ticket in San Agustin a couple of days ago.

We left San Agustin and went back down that nightmare road for the best part of six hours. Then onto a bus to Pasto for another five hours. Then Ipìales for a couple of hours. And finally reached the actual border at 11.30 last night.... an hour and a half after immigration closed.. carajo!

So we booked into a hostel for the night and got up at 5.35AM THIS MORNING! Yikes! Not my idea, as you can imagine. We crossed into Ecuador shortly after seven am. The stamp was also as disappointingly non-flamboyuant as the Colombian one.

Then straight into a taxi to the bus terminal and onto a bus to Otavalo. And SHOPPING!!!!!!

I bought stuff. I am happy:)

The arts and crafts here in Ecuador are shedloads better than in Colombia (sorry, Colombianos) and it is a bit weird as the currency here in US dollars.... to a point. The notes are the same but the coins are Ecuadorian centavos and US cents... which still bug me... what the hell is a ´dime´and how dare they write such nonsense on a coin???

I spent money. My bag is much heavier. I have a blanket made of alpaca. Does life get any better??

We left our bags in a hotel at the corner of the market and when we had shopped and dropped we got onto another bus to Quito.. the capital. Man, it is high here- about 3,000m above sea level or something ridiculous. But at least I have an excuse for being out of breath all the time.

Back to Colombia in a couple of days though. Then I will give you photos. And perhaps you will give me comments!