A little excursion

well this weekend, we descended on the moutains north of Quito for a respite from the city smog and much fun was had by all! After a snap decision on thursday, we rounded up 8 people and after the obligatory hanging around, managed to get everyone on a bus to Otovalo only 1 hour after we had hoped to be gone (the joys of large group travel!) Friday night was then spent in a rather entertaining bar (only found after a car pulled up seeing we were looking lost on a street corner, deduced we were after dancing and directed us to this bar!) with a peculiar mixture of folkloric (think pan pipes) salsa and reggaeton music and a rather large number of israelis on their obligatory year off after the army!

Then had a v early start as everyone wanted to get to the market before the bus loads of tourists from Quito. So after waking up at 7am was then rather disconcerted that we didnt get to the market (5 mins walk away) until 10am (again, getting 8 people all moving, especially when one wants to talk to everyone, is rather tricky). but as the market had one row of interesting veg/meat/spices and then the rest was tourist orientated, llama coated jackets/blankets/hammocks/jewellery, I wasn´t too bothered to only spend an hour there!

As Otovalo also turned out to be a rather depressing town with not much going on, we then decamped to a little village in the mountains and proceeded to amuse the hostel and resturant owners with our own brand of organised chaos, whilst also ending up with loads of new local friends, including a group of 7 year olds who took pity on our pathetic attempts to find waterfalls and paths and became our guides for the afternoon!

Sunday was then spent on horseback as I was somehow peer-pressured in to going on said horse ride round the countryside. And whilst it was a very beautiful ride with some v cool guides, I now have massive bruises on the inside of my thighs thanks to the excessive galloping (yes, galloping......i was so convinced i was going to fall out my saddle and held on for dear life!) and can hardly walk....but never mind.

More importantly, went to my voluntary work placement today and they were sooo lovely. Such a difference from the womens shelter. I get to work 9-12 which is perfect and it is in a base where kids come to study and play so i get to just hang out and so whatever is needed. I´m a little nervous, but there are some other volunteers there and it seems a really welcoming place so all is good

Anyway, have to go any buy another pair of sunglasses today as after buying a replacement pair for the ones i lost on the plane on Friday, I left my new pair behind in otovalo! Its a good job they are cheap!