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Toon, my Lima travel agent, asked me, "Why are you going to Ecuador, Doug, you are only staying 3 days?"

Peru & Ecuador 2002 - Part Three: Otavalo & Quito, Ecuador

Dougburnett
2003-11-24 13:32:33

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Otavalo, Ecuador

Friday, September 6, 2002

Toon, my Lima travel agent, asked me, "Why are you going to Ecuador, Doug, you are only staying 3 days?" I had to stop and think: I hadn't thought there was anything odd about my short trip.

My interest actually started when I found out about the large market in Otavalo - it's reputed to be the biggest craft market in South America. Actually, there are three separate markets: one for crafts, one selling animals and another offering food. This seemed too good to pass up. I love markets and the opportunity they provider for taking pictures of people.

Further, Ecuador was so close, and I figured it would be fun to see another country. Lastly - and I'm almost embarrassed to admit this - I wanted to stand on the Equator. It's a desire I have had for the last few years and the equator would be an easy trip from Quito - it's about 30 minutes north. Anyway, Ecuador was only a few hours away by air and the ticket didn't cost that much - only around $250 - so why not?

My plane was due to leave around 9:00 A.M. and Toon suggested - almost insisted - that I get there early, warning me that there were often delays at the Lima airport. In fact, when I arrived the check-in counter wasn't even open yet and I spent half an hour talking to two Belgian girls while waiting. When it did open I quickly got my boarding pass along with a bit of bad news: the flight would be late - four hours late. So you see Toon was right - but not about needing to be early. I was given various reasons for the delay but the bottom line was the plane hadn't arrived yet and we weren't leaving until it did.

So I walked around until I found an Internet café and sent some email. After an hour of that I wandered around a little more and ran into the Belgian girls who were sitting at a Dunkin' ...