Today, after meeting a friend for coffee, we took the bus to Otavalo with our new friend Bo from Texas. The busses here are wonderful. You can get from here to there, and everywhere in between for 35 cents. We walked up to the main bus depot in town to meet up with Bo, found the bus with the Otavalo sign in the front window and hopped on. The bus takes off and after a few stops in town, we head out towards our destination. A worker comes around once we are on route and collects the 35 cents from everyone. That’s it – you get off wherever you want.
We rode all the way to the bus depot in Otavalo- about 20 minutes. Then using Giselle’s downloaded offline Google map on her phone, we made our way to the Plaza De Ponchos – the large indigenous market in Otavalo.
We had lunch at the Balcon de Imbabura, a nice restaurant overlooking the plaza that is popular with the tourists. Giselle had her usual stuffed avocado.
I opted for the flauta relleno al horno – a very tasty stuffed burrito with ham and cheese and mushrooms…Bo opted for a hamburger, meat and bun only, not very adventurous!
I bought myself another nice shirt…and Giselle bought a few bags for friends. She is actually bringing back souvenirs!