Coals to Newcastle – Drugs to Colombia!
Posted from: Ibarra, Ecuador
Well we’re still in Ecuador, at least until tomorrow anyway when we’ll head for the Colombian border.
We’ve spent a few relaxing days here in Ibarra and yesterday, being Saturday, we ventured to the nearby town of Otavalo for the indigenous market. This market is considered by many to be one of the most important markets in South America, dating back to pre-Inca times. It certainly is a BIG market and it drew the crowds. We missed the livestock part of the market as that area finished its trading by 8am and it was 10:30 before we even arrived in Otavalo. Great shame really because I quite fancied owning a Llama! I priced one up in Peru and for around $250 - $300 a Llama could be yours (one careful lady owner and low mileage.)
I made just one purchase at the market – a Hammock! Seemed like a great idea at the time, but unfortunately it’s quite heavy and a bit too bulky to carry around with me. That’s were a good pack animal would come in handy! I guess I’ll just have to post it home … the Hammock, not the Llama (don’t worry Mum!)
Anyway, tomorrow we’ll be leaving Ecuador behind and crossing the border into Colombia. In preparation for moving on we were sorting through our bags, a bit of a Spring Clean if you like. Certainly easier to Spring Clean a backpack than my bedroom. Anyway, Chika came up with a couple of items that seemed to be causing her a bit of concern. She likes to travel with food items from home and who am I to complain about the occasional Miso Soup or Curry Udon. The items she’d pulled out this time were a small clear plastic bag filled with pancake mix and another containing loose green tea. Innocent enough I guess until you look them as a large bag of ‘white powder’ and a bag of mysterious green leaves AND THEN try to imagine how you explain these item, in your broken Spanish, to the Colombian Military on the border as they search your bags!
Well, it looks like we’re going to be eating a LOT of pancakes and drinking a LOT of Green Tea today. Still, there’s torrential rain outside and it sounds like a nice way to pass a lazy Sunday.
