Popayan

While we were in Pasto we had an email from our friend Maria Velez asking when we would be able to get to Medellin, so we tried to find a flight from Pasto to Medellin. When we found that all the flights were enormously expensive we decided to take the bus from Pasto to Popayan, a six hour bus ride through more mountains, and through a part of the country that was not very safe in the past due to guerilla and paramilitary activity. It is not recommended to travel this route at night due to bandits who are sometimes active in the area.

For this reason our friend Diego, and the owner of the hotel we stayed in in Pasto, recommended we travel with the bus company Bolivariano because they have better security. Bolivariano has very new looking buses with a lot more leg room than any other buses we have traveled on. The conductor came through once everyone had boarded and took a video of all the passengers as a security measure. This was an express bus, which means it did not stop on the road for people waiting for a bus. They stopped half way through the trip for a bathroom and lunch stop, and the bus was locked up during that time so it was safe to leave our day packs on the bus while we had a snack.

The countryside between Pasto and Popayan taken from the bus window!

 

We stayed in Popayan one night and then continued by bus to Cali, a two hour ride on a much less fancy bus than the day before. From Cali we were able to get a reasonably priced flight to Medellin, which saved us another seven hours on the bus.

We spent a bit of time in Popayan looking around the old town, which has all white buildings lining the main streets around the square.

The tower in the main plaza

 

The Cathedral

 

The main plaza in Popayan is Parque Caldas

 

An antique footbridge, Puente Chiquita built in 1713, over the Molino river that runs through the town

 

White buildings in this style surround the central plaza and the street leading off from the plaza

 

The Iglesia de San Franciso did not get the memo about painting everything white!

 

Enjoying a dinner (with Colombian beer) that does not have corn and beans!

 

Cotacatchi, Ecuador to Pasto, Colombia

Cotacatchi is a town about 7 km from Otavalo. It cost us 25 cents to go there on the bus from Otavalo. We went there to stay with a new friend we met through an international travel exchange we belong to. Marcelo lives very near the center of the town, a block from the town plaza. We stayed with him for two nights.

In Marcelo's garden

 

Laguna Cuicocha is a crater lake about 5 kilometers from town on the flank of the Cotacatchi volcano. It has two islands in its center that are vaguely shaped like guinea pigs, which is why the lake is called Cuicocha (cuy is guinea pig in the Kichwa language, and cuy are raised to be eaten). We hiked part way around the crater rim trail and saw many interesting plants, including orchids.

At Laguna Cuicocha

 

Cotacatchi is know for leather work, with 120 leather shops. We spent part of an afternoon shopping, though we didn't buy much due to our limited suitcase capacity. The leather work was of high quality and very reasonably priced.

From Cotacatchi we went by bus through mountainous countryside almost entirely in cultivation.

Cultivated fields as we left Cotacatchi

 

Between Cotacatchi and Tulcan

 

The road had many switchbacks as we went higher and higher up the mountains to Tulcan, the northern Ecuadorian border city. There we stopped to change money and get something to eat before going to the border to exit Ecuador and enter Columbia. Evanna kept track of the bags in the square, while Kathy went to the bank. She soon returned and said that banks don't change money, that you have to go to a money changer on the opposite corner. As she approached the corner she could see a couple of men with great wads of bills in their hands. There were a couple of police men walking in front of her and she asked them where the money exchange was. They pointed to one of the men and indicated that he was the money exchange. He gave a decent enough rate and allowed Kathy to count the money before she handed over the US cash.

We took a taxi to the border where we had to wait in a long line to get our Ecuador exit stamp. We ate our take-out lunch while we waited. Once we had our stamp we walked, wheeling our bags, over the bridge across the river that forms the boundary between Ecuador and Colombia. On the Colombian side we stood in a very short line and got our entry stamp. The taxi from the border to the city of Ipiales was fast and in Ipiales we got on a bus for the second half of the journey over more mountainous roads to the city of Pasto.

 

Looking down the steep cliff alongside the road

 

More steep drop offs. The bus wheels were about a foot from the edge in many places, and no guard rails!

 

In Pasto we stayed two nights at the most luxurious hotel of the trip. It was also among the most expensive hotels of the trip. They staff at Casa Lopez was very accommodating and brought us coffee and hot chocolate when we arrived, quite stunned from our long bus ride. They also put hot water bottles in our bed when they turned the covers down for the night, and left us a package of biscuits. The local people thought the weather was very cold, but we just put our fleece sweaters on over our tank tops and were quite warm.

The guest lounge at the Casa Lopez

 

Casa Lopez was formerly a colonial mansion and was full of antiques and beautiful woodwork

 

Our bedroom at Casa Lopez

 

Lago de la Cocha is a lake about 45 minutes by taxi from Pasto over a mountain pass. We went there in a collectivo, a kind of shared taxi, only this one was an ancient small pick-up truck with a crew cab. We shared the collectivo with Diego, Lilian and Ramiro. Unfortunately Ramiro was drunk and continued to drink during the journey. Fortunately Diego spoke very good English and Lilian could understand much of what we said and could speak some English as well. Diego is a pianist and music teacher at the local University and Lilian teaches music theory and is a composer in Bogota. When we got to the lake we quickly left Ramiro behind and joined Diego and Liliane in hiring a boat to take us across to the island in the lake.

On the boat with Lilian and Diego

 

The boat traveled from the collectivo stop through a canal, past many restaurants serving lunches of Trucha (rainbow trout), and out into the lake. The weather was overcast with a bit of drizzle, so the views of the hillsides around the lake were obscured by mist. On the island there is a church and a short nature trail to a mirador on the opposite side of the island. We hiked to the mirador and back, then the boat took us on a tour around the island before going back to shore and to the restaurants. We selected a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the canal and lake and ordered our lunch. We had a lovely time talking with Diego and Lilian over lunch and during the drive back to Pasto. Diego offered his assistance with anything we might need during the remainder of our time there, which we did not require, but for which we were very grateful.

The restaurants along the canal

 

The trail on the island

 

With Lilian at the Mirador

 

Otavalo

We traveled by bus from Mindo to Otavalo. This involved going from Mindo to Quito in one bus, taking a taxi from one bus station to another, then taking another bus from that bus station to Otavalo.

Otavalo is reknowned for its textile market, which is largest on Saturdays. We arrived at lunch time and had the afternoon for shopping in the huge open air market that spills out onto the surrounding streets for many blocks. On market day you can buy just about anything in the peripheral market stalls around the main market square.

Since we are traveling with only 2 carry on bags and 2 day packs we do not have much room for purchases, so we didn't buy much. We found it interesting and a bit overwhelming to explore the market with stalls full of scarves, blankets, jackets, table cloths, rugs, wall hangings, jewelry, panama hats, pottery. There were also stalls selling fruit and vegetables and little lunch spots selling soups, strange combinations of potatoes, corn and blood sausage, and roasted pork with chicharones (pork skin cracklings).

On Sunday we went for a hike to the Parque Condor, a rescued raptor sanctuary which has a free flight show most days. There were lots of people there as Sunday is family day. One family in a small truck gave us a ride for the last kilometer as they saw us puffing up the trail looking very tired from the 4 km walk.

The Parque has a small visitor center with a few displays, including one showing the size of a condor's wingspan.

Here's Evanna comparing her wing span with that of the condor

 

The rescued birds live in enclosures that have a stone wall on one side and wire on the other three sides and the top. The enclosures have lots of vegitation and trees in them, making a nice environment for the birds. They had a variety of hawks, some eagles and some owls in addition to the pair of condors for whom the park is named.

Unfortunately our Sanish language skills were not sufficient to follow the commentary of the falconer during the free flight demonstration. We could understand the basics - the age of the bird and the diet but we missed all the jokes. The flying demonstrations were excellent and the birds were beautiful. The area for these demonstrations looked out over a huge valley toward the volcano Cotacatchi. They flew two types of hawks, a bird they call and eagle which is actually a large hawk, and a kestrel. They also showed and talked about a barn owl and another kestrel.

The grey eagle, which is actually a hawk. This guy didn't want to come back once he was released to fly, but eventually he returned.

 

Evanna holding a Kestrel

 

One of the very handsome eagles they have at the Parque Condor

 

We left the Condor park and continued down the ridge on the opposite side from Otavalo, toward Lago San Pablo, walking past people's fields, on a rough path. The planting practices are very interesting in this area of Ecuador as they inter-crop, planting corn, beans and another crop we couldn't identify, all at the same time. As the corn grows the beans climb on the corn stalks, and the beans add nitrogen to the soil. The barbed wire fences around the crops are held up by planting small trees and attaching the wires to the tree trunks. It appears that each year they cut the top of the tree off at fence post height, use the wood they cut off for fire wood, and allow new shoots to grow so they will have more firewood the following year.

On the path through the fields

 

Corn , beans and another crop all planted at the same time

 

Living fence posts

 

At the lake we stopped by a couple of docks and had a snack and watched the local families going on boat rides, and the kids playing on the dock. Many of the indigenous Otavalo women were in their traditional dress, which consists of an ankle length wool underskirt of a light color, usually white, cream or beige, covered by a wrap around wool overskirt of dark blue, grey or black. They wear an embroidered white blouse with a round neckline and puffy sleeves, covered by another piece of the skirt cloth tied on as a shawl under one arm and then tied over the other shoulder. They often have a piece of cloth that they tie into a head wrap, or just carry on top of their head to shade them from the sun.

 

Kathy at Lago San Pablo

 

Evanna with our snack of chocolate dipped strawberries

 

The volcano Imbabura towers over Lago San Pablo

The next day we took a taxi to Peguche, a small village on the outskirts of Otavalo which is a weaving village. Many of the textiles for sale in the Otavalo market are machine made, which makes them very inexpensive. Most of what is sold in the shops in Peguche is hand woven and considerably more expensive due to the hours of hand work that these items take to make. The woman who owned the shop gave us a demonstration of the types of looms and the natural dyes they use, and the spinning and wrap process for the wool.

Using a back-strap loom to weave a tapestry

 

Winding the spun yarn on a spinning wheel

 

Peguche also has a nearby waterfall and park. We hiked to it and had some snacks there before making our way on foot and by taxi back to Otavalo.

At the Peguche waterfall

 

Peguche waterfall

 

 

Mindo, in the cloud forest

When we left Cuenca we flew to Quito and then took a bus to Mindo, which is a small community west of Quito. Mindo is in the cloud forest on the western slopes of the Andes and receives rain almost daily. There are a number of natural reserves on this side of the Andes, and the bird population there is large. Many birders go to Mindo because the community caters to them with guided birding tours. They also have two zip line companies and a tubing company that provide wet river thrills for the adrenaline addicted. We spent 4 days in Mindo hiking and bird watching and were able to see many new species of birds.

Cultivated area in a cloud forest valley

We stayed at a small hotel run by an American woman and her Ecuadorian husband. They have their own coffee plantation and served their own very good coffee, as well as very good meals.

Kathy and another guest, Brenda in the outdoor area of the hotel cafe

One day we went to a demonstration of how chocolate is made and met Brenda from Edmonton. We were served melted chocolate with strawberries and pineapple pieces to dip in it.

Victor cooking the cocoa beans

We also went birdwatching with a local guide who spoke English, we visited a butterfly sanctuary, and we rode the Tarabita, a rustic cable car, across a deep valley to hike to a waterfall on the other side.

We always carried our rain jackets as you never knew when a shower would occur

 

The bird watching group. Sandra, on the far right, was our guide.

 

A Pale-mandible Aracana, a type of toucan. We saw three types of toucans but only managed to get a fairly good picture of this one.

 

One of the many gorgeous humming birds we saw around Mindo

 

 

On our way to the butterfly sanctuary. We hiked on roads like this in search of birds.

 

At the butterfly sanctuary

 

One of the Mindo cafes, with unusual swings for seats.

 

The Tarabita cable car. Those are very large trees below it.

 

On the trail to the waterfall

 

The lower part of the waterfall

 

Cajas National Park

Cajas Natiional Park is at very high altitude, 3000 metres, on the continental divide of Ecuador. Cajas NP has many types of terrain. Our first hike was in the lower part of the park in a glacial valley. We hiked around a lake through grasslands and forest. In the forested area we were very lucky to see a masked trogon, a large brightly colored bird.

This lake is in the lower altitude part of the Cajas Park.

 

In the highlands there is very little forest apart from polylepsis trees, which they call "paper" trees due to the way they shed their papery bark to keep epiphytes from growing on them. There are hundreds of small lakes in the park, and the main plant that covers the land is grass

This is one of the high altitude lakes and was at the begnning of our second hike

 

Typical balloon flowers of the highlands

 

This beautiful spiky bromeliad is also very common

 

Close up of the wet grasses that cover most of the land in the highlands of Cajas