Ibarra & Otavalo

Ibarra is a town two hours south of the border. It's known for it's ice cream and sweets. I was there for a night and decided to try out the ice cream from the Rosalia Suarez Ice Cream shop. It was pretty good. They hand make it right there at the main entrance of the store and you can watch as they spin the copper pan with the ingredients. It's in another bowl full of ice. You can check out the video if my explanation sucks. There's also a poster of their 7-step process for making it. I was trying to be discreet, because I didn't want the guy to think I was taping him, so I turned around like I was taping everything. I don't think it worked.

Mural in Ibarra

Ibarra town crest

7 steps to ice cream

Otavalo is known in South America for it's market. It really is the biggest market I've been to taking over most of the city streets. There is everything you could want or need on sale. Toothpaste, hammers, clothes, shoes, art, animals...everything. It was interesting to walk through and see the indigenous population as well. I had fried tilapia for lunch, an entire fish for $3. And no gringos in sight. There are way more indigenous people in Ecuador than in Colombia.

Hustle and bustle of market day

Animal market

Clothes

Produce

My lunch

Me and my peeps eating fish

The view from the hostel is amazing. You can see 4 volcanoes on a clear day. It was at 2800m.

So...

...very...

...pretty!

Quito is a two hour bus ride away and a UNESCO World Heritage site for it's preservation of colonial architecture. I may do some Spanish classes here so I'm not such an idiot when talking to people on the street. It's been 5 cities in 6 days. Time for a break.