Tonight is the last night in Otavalo. What was to be a 5 night stay turned into 7 nights. For most people this would be a week longer than planned, but when you’re surrounded by the Andes it’s hard to just walk away and say yep I’m done here. 

There’s just something so serene looking about and seeing these great mountains and volcanoes off in the distance, with villages dotting their landscape. And not to mention the people, there’s a large and strong traditional people that sell their wares at the daily markets.

It’s certainly a mixed town, on one hand you have people dressed in t-shirts and jeans, and on the other hand you have women wearing beautiful floral tops and the men with braided ponytails and fedora or bowler hats. 

What seems to be on ongoing theme for Ecuador, random live entertainment just appears. I couldn’t tell whether there was an occasion or meaning to it, but across from the  markets appeared a full brass band. They took over the sidewalk and started belting out some classical music. Why? Why not. 

Of the three lakes around Otavalo, I was told that Lagunas de Mojanda was to be avoided if I was travelling alone because of robberies. That left San Pablo and Cuicocha. With San Pablo within a 5km hiking distance I set off.

The start of this involved going up. Like most things I’ve encountered in Ecuador so far, there’s a lot of involvement in climbing up hills. And honestly, hill is such an underrated term for what is really inbetween a hill and a mountain. Is there a word for that? If there is I was out of breath most of the time to say it. 

The trek though the outlying rural area of Otavalo wasn’t so bad, it was quite nice actually. Only the first half an hour or so was a steep uphill hike, the rest of the road was fairly well thought out with a slight incline creeping up the mountain-hill that wound back and forth weaving it’s way to the top. Then it’s pretty much a direct decent back down.

Heading into the small town of Lechero it was pretty obvious gringos don’t pass through here very often. Small kids literally stopped in their tracks and stared, and then quickly followed with a healthy enthusiasm of “HELLO!!”. The adults were also taken back,  and every one of them nodded, smiled and said “buenos dias”. It’s such a welcoming feeling when this sort of thing happens. You may be a stranger, but they’re more than happy to have you visiting their town.

If there’s one thing that has become very obvious there past few weeks is that this not tourist season. Which personally I find great, hostels are available, there’s barely any other tourists, and you tend to have the place to yourself. Sadly there is a downside, and in Ecuadors case it means the mornings are sunny but come the afternoon the rain clouds roll in and there’s a good chance it’ll start pouring down. 

Arriving at Lagos San Pablo I could see the clouds off in the distance and the sun had already been shut down to a whimpering child trying to poke its way of out a cotton wool bag. 

Still the lake was impressive, and there were a few other people around enjoying the sight too. There was even a young couple on the wharf sharing a romantic moment, that is up until a group of German backpackers arrived and actually sat around the couple on the edge of the wharf. 

I’ve yet to come across worse travellers than Germans. They’re always lurking somewhere ready to just blunder into everyones space.

The next stop this day was Condor Park. That ended up being a rather steep hike back up the hill-mountain to where this bird sanctuary was perched. 

The park takes in injured hawks, eagles, condors and any giant man eating birds and rehabilitates them. 

There isn’t really a hell of a lot to see. There was half a dozen enclosures and one section where they were out in the open but with ankle leashes. There’s a condor flight show that I missed, which would have made the $3.50 worth it. Still, the views were fantastic.

The next lake to visit was formed from an extinct volcano. It was out near the town of Cotacachi, famous for it’s leather work. Every second shop is literally a leather shop, selling hand bags or shoes or jackets or hand bags or hand bags. And just when you thought it was an ice cream shop, hell no, it’s a hand bag shop with an ice cream fridge to tempt the kids. There’s also an usual ex-pat American presence here. I can’t pin point the reason other than cheap leather, however it was kind of a shock to hear so many American accents suddenly. 

My journey to Lagos Cuicocha had me almost turning back several times. It’s a taxi ride to the lake and it proceeded to enter into earlier afternoon as we approached. Soon the rain started pouring down, but I was optimistic and could see breaks in the clouds where blue sky could be seen. The rain stopped, started, stopped, poured down, then finally stopped as I reached the lake.  

After paying the taxi driver I surveyed the area as the taxi vanished back up the road. It was at this foolish point I realised a few things. 

First, it’s going to rain again soon. Second, there was no one else about except for one family. And third, it was 12km back to town and there was no other taxis in sight. 

Making the best of the situation I had a walk around and took some pictures, having to wipe water off the lens a couple of times as the rain teased me. 

With nothing left to do I started the walk back to town. In my mind I was thinking a 12km walk would be a good thing. Out in the fresh crisp air, nature all around, it’ll be a healthy fitness walk! 

And then there was thunder.

The rain was clearly out to mess with me. A little drizzle, then fine. A heavier down pour, then fine. A few moments when I thought the rain has gone away, then thunder and some light rain, as though the rain god was giving me a sly tap on the forehead as a reminder he wasn’t going anywhere. 

I’m not sure how many kilometres I ended up walking, but it was a good few hours with wet cloths. As the rain started to beat down again I hear a beep and a ute pulls overs. The driver points to the back, and without hesitation I jump in and we tear off towards the town centre. 

Sitting in the ute as the rain still lashed at me, I discovered I was still a long way from town and this nice stranger had seen some gringo walking in the rain and decided to give him a ride. The kindness of strangers is one of my favourite parts of travelling.

Back in town I had an odd conversation with an elderly lady about me being waterlogged, at least I think that’s what we were talking about, and I jumped back on the bus back to Otavalo.

It was a good time in Otavalo. I’ll definitely miss this place.