From Mindo to Otavalo, Ecuador

After a short 7 hour plane ride (3 to Miami and 4 to Quito) from Boston I arrived in Ecuador on January 5th. Same time zone as the east coast, same currency, same electrical current and much, much warmer temperatures, you gotta love it!

My friends Gary and Karen, Americans who now call Mindo their home, met me at the airport with another friend of theirs who had also just arrived from NYC, Bey. The 4 of us headed back to Mindo, and hour and half drive from Quito, arriving at midnight. All 4 of are staying at Judy's house, a great 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom home with spacious living areas that she built a few years ago.

I've had adventures galor since arriving here, but no fast internet connection to post the photos. The internet at Judy's is about the speed of dial up, sometimes slower, it really makes me appreciate high speed cable. I'm in Otavalo now, a beautiful city north of Quito, and will show a few photos of my time with the children of Mindo and some of the Otavalo area.

My Camera for Kids project at Salem International in Mindo has been very rewarding. Here's one of the children bringing the toothbrushes out for use after lunch. Each hole has a name on it.

Carla, everyone's darling. She's the daughter of Paula, who works there and had Carla at 15, the average age of young mothers in Mindo.

Having fun with the cameras everyone was so generous in donating. See blog link on the right if you want to see more.

I'm arranging a ride home to Judy's while downloading the photos off of the cameras.

Janet's helping, too.

Photo of my friend Janet, taken by one of the kids, they loved photographing us and each other.

Another photo by one of the children.

An outing Paula arranged for all of us with our cameras.

Mindo, at the Yellow House.

Downtown Mindo.

Gary, Karen, Bey, Janet and I having dinner at Quetzel's in their lovely outdoor space.

One of my favorite waters, a naturally bubbly water served with an Ecuadorian lemon. Looks like a lemon, tastes like a lime. Popcorn is served with soup and everything else.

Gary and Karen drove Janet and I to Otavalo with their parrot, Paco. I have never traveled with a parrot before but Paco is very well behaved and had lots of personality.

Beautiful city of Otavalo.

View from our Hotel Coraza.

Vulcan Imbaburra at dusk.

We visited San Antonio with Karen and Gary the next day looking for furniture and wooden doors for the house they are building in Mindo. Beautiful craftsmanship and really low prices, like most things in Ecuador. It's just about half an hour north of Otavalo on the way to Ibarra, where we had lunch. I didn't like Ibarra much, a large city of 100,000 people, very dusty and congested with traffic.

San Antonio.

San Antonio, rain has been scarce in these parts, the umbrella is for sun protection.

Children in San Antonio.