otavalo

decision made and community advised, there was one last thing i really wanted to do before making my early termination from the peace corps official (meaning a few days of paperwork in quito and right onto the plane home)... visit a grand friend from training and explore her home in the mountains, the town of cotacachi.

in order to get to her site, one must switch busses in otavalo - so what better to do than take a little while to explore the largest artisan market in all of south america! i quickly found myself lost in the maze of alpaca blankets, panama hats (which are actually made in ecuador! i still cant figure out how they got their name), sweaters, and just about any other craft you could associate with ecuador. i bought myself a few things, then headed on over to reunite with paige.