Arrival - Day 1 and 2

Hi Everyone,
So I have arrived safely in Ecuador. I had an easy flight and I would recommend LAN to anyone. They checked me in while I was in line at the airport with a blackberry! When I arrived, I had about 10 minutes where I felt the altitude (about 7000 ft) but it passed really quickly.

The man who drove me to Quichinche (key-chin-che) was really nice and could not speak any English. It was fantastic, I was very proud of myself. We spoke for the entire two hours, only in Spanish, every topic imaginable from politics to food to family. Granted, I only use past and present tense but my point got made and I understood 95% of what he said.

We arrived at the Inn at about 1130 last night. It is a beautiful pristine place up in the mountains away from the hustle and bustle of Otavalo. They had a plate of food and a fire burning for me in my room.

I woke up early this morning in time to catch breakfast. It was all fruit grown on the property, and obviously amazing. I then decided to hike to the pueblo of Quichinche. Along the way, it was only farms, animals and farmers. Most wanted to chat about nothing in particular so I indulged. I'm somewhat tempted to collect some animals and start a farm of my own... You can see some of the pictures of the friends I made along the way.

Eventually I got to town. It is a relatively new place and acts as a "suburb" of Otavalo, a trading and artisan city nearby. I met the local priest and chatted with him. The best part of all of this is that no one speaks even a word of English, so my Spanish is bound to improve.

I then hiked through some more farms, around some hills, and then somehow ended up in Otavalo. I don't have a good impression of it yet as I only strolled along the outskirts. Then I got lost for a while only knowing the general direction I was headed. I just finished lunch here at the Inn. It was incredible. He served a fried fish called "trucha." I'm thinking we could have some serious import potential into the US, but then I looked in up and discovered it was trout. All of the juice I asked for would be picked and juiced upon request, amazing! Then dessert, they made ice cream from blackberries, right here on site.

Tomorrow, the owner of the hotel has invited me to lunch, so hopefully I can get some more insight into what happens around here and some history.


Too be honest, I'm already anxious to get out further into more rural countryside. I'm planning on heading out to Azama on Sunday or Monday. It's about 25 minutes West by bus, further and higher in the mountains. I'll probably check it out tomorrow or go see some of the nearby volcanoes.

That's all for now.

Love
Kent