Most people come to Otavalo for the enormous Saturday market on a day tour. They catch the bus up from Quito early in the morning or the night before, shop, and then catch the bus back, without ever stopping to explore the surroundings. Which is a shame, because Otavalo is ringed by volcanoes and there is […]
Hiking Ecuador – Laguna Cuicocha Read More »
The 2nd November is “All Souls Day” in the Catholic calendar, the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico, the “Día de los Difuntos” (Day of the Deceased) in Ecuador. I didn’t realise it when making my plans, but Otavalo turns out to be one of the best places in all of Ecuador to experience this
Día de los Difuntos – Otavalo – Ecuador Read More »
I finally managed to extract myself from Quito after 3 months of living there and becoming very comfortable indeed! Given that I hadn’t done much hiking for quite a while, I decided to base myself in Otavalo for a week to do at least 2 of the hikes around that area – the Laguna de
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The Centre for Comtemporary Art is in located one of the most incredible and historically significant buildings in Quito. I’d walked past it a lot while I was living in the Historic Centre during my first month in Quito and had always wanted to see inside the building. So I finally got my act together to
Center for Contemporary Art – Quito Read More »
There are several hikes that are within reach of Quito on a day trip, but the main issue is getting to the trail-heads on public transport. Given that I’d already hiked to the summit of Rucu Pichincha last year, the one I particularly wanted to do was Volcán Pasochoa, but it seemed like it was going
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Trawling the Quito Cultura website last week (as I do every Sunday) I came across the following advertisement for Leyendas Nocturnas (Night Legends) at the El Tejar Convent in downtown Quito. From the description, it seemed as if it might follow the same formula as the awesome night tour I did at the Santiago General
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There is no shortage of places to eat in Quito, including a multitude of restaurants that cater primarily for tourists. And although there is a growing culture around Container Food Parks (ie small cafe/restaurants made from shipping containers) and Food Truck Parks in Quito and other major centres, I have found that in many cases they are quite
Tripa Mishqui in La Floresta – Quito – Ecuador Read More »
In my efforts to do a little hiking while I’m staying put here in Quito, I headed out to Cascada Condor Machay this weekend with Laura and Mark. I’d met them at my Saturday night language exchange group a few weeks ago and, given the run of cloudy weather we’ve had recently, we decided to
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One of the best recommendations I can make is that if you are visiting a country for a while, join the expat Facebook group(s) associated with that country. I have been a member of Discover Chile for several years now, and when I knew I was coming to Ecuador for an extended stay I joined
Ecuador National Symphony Orchestra – Quito Read More »
Anyone who read my post about visiting the Puppet Workshop in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, knows that I’m completely enamored with puppetry of any kind. It really doesn’t matter if it is just a sock puppet (I’ve made a few of those for bemused people) – I love the artistry and suspension of belief that necessarily accompanies
Marionette Theatre – Estulticia Read More »
