otavalo and good-bye ecuador!

our last few days in ecuador were spent in the northern town of otavalo.  our hood river friends paul, kristen and family had lived here several years back so we had fun imagining them walking the same streets.
this town is known for it's craft market, so of course we spent an afternoon wandering through the market.

lucy, who loves shopping, found this to be a very delightful way to pass an afternooon.

the style of dress in otavalo consists of these beautifully embroidered blouses, woven belts and long skirts.

the hat of the region does not look like a hat at all, but rather a piece of black cloth plopped on the head.  it made us giggle.

we spent eight weeks in ecuador (we budgeted a little extra time to compensate for the galapagos and make sure we had enough time on the mainland).  ecuador is the smallest of the countries on our itinerary but there was so much to see that we had no problem filling our eight weeks!  the slogan for this little country is ama la vida, which means 'love the life'....and you literally see this slogan plastered on everything in ecuador (buses, buildings, clothing).  gotta love a country with that slogan!

we will miss so many things about ecuador!  the galapagos for sure were the major highlight, and todd in particular will miss the marine iguanas.  but there were so many other amazing things we saw and did in ecuador, including zip-lining in banos, the mama negra festival, and the jungle float.  the only area we didn't get to was the coast. since we had such great beach time on the galapagos and the northern coast of ecuador was recently devastated by an earthquake we decided to skip the beach (though we hear it is lovely....maybe next time).  we had three great volunteer stays in ecuador (dairy farm, school and intaq farm) all of which we hold in our hearts.  and of course riley will miss the llapingachos (the boy has become a big fan of street food!).

we had a wonderful two months in ecuador and we will miss this little country with big heart!



but cross the border we did and we have now spent our first nights in colombia.  the border crossing was really quite mellow i gotta say.  as a bonus, about a ten minute taxi ride from the border is this crazy neo-gothic church called the santuario nuestra senora de las lajas.  it is built in the middle of the gorge and over the river....quite stunning.  apparently it is a place a miracles and a bit of a mecca for many.  it was well worth the mini-detour!

believers say the water has special powers so we blessed ourselves and the last weeks of our journey with it.

we are now in the town of san augustin in southern colombia and our first impressions of colombia are bueno!
hasta luego!