"Sheck-it-out, no problem"

Today 9 students from the school went to Otavalo, Ecuador. We had a blast.

We paid $19 dollars so that we can all go on a rented, grey, toaster-looking van to a bizcocho factory, see the beautiful views of all the landscapes, go to the market in Otavalo, the Cascada of Peguche, and to the lake in San Pablo which was created after the ice cap of a nearby volcano melted. We had a driver and a professor with us as well.

It took us two hours to get to the market, but first we made a quick stop to the bizcocho factory which was painted cow skin style. The bizcochos were different from what I expected. They were more like cookies. Nonetheless they were still very good. We got to go behind-the-scenes where there were two young guys making bizcochos. I asked how many they made a day. Any guesses? If you thought 3,500, you are right... IF you multiply that by 2. They make 7,000 a day! Of course, the room they're working in is very warm because of the ovens, so I can't imagine doing that many a day in such a hot room. Kudos to the bizcocho makers!

We went on our way to the market. I was fascinated by all the handmade things that are sold. Yonseili and I got ripped off $4 each. This is how it happened: Yonseili and I saw some pants that we really liked because they look really comfortable to wear. She asked how much they were and the little girl, Eddika, said $12 at first but went down to $9. We thought she was doing us a favor and we were fascinated by how amazingly helpful she was. She came and went to get us the size we wanted and the color we wanted. We even took a picture with cute little Eddika. Well, turns out Eddika wasn't just cute and little, she was smart and convincing. Right around the corner we saw the same pants but at $5. Eddika wasn't so cute to us anymore.

From there we went to the waterfall of Peguche only 5 minutes away from the market. It is considered a sacred place in the culture of the towns of Otavalo because it is such a naturally beautiful place. We got to take amazing pictures.

Cotacachi was the next stop. It was a nice town, known for selling a lot of leather merchandise. We ate there at a nice restaurant with very good food. Yonseili and I got arroz on pollo and drank cola. We had a lot of good laughs during lunch.

Then to San Pablo we went to see the lake. It was beautiful and there was a great view of the volcano.

The ride to and from was 2 hours long. I am so happy we had a van and that we didn't take the bus.

Highlight of the day: Totally unexpected - Indigenous lady at the market speaking to us in English when she was trying to sell beautiful table cloths. She was saying, "Look Ms., beautiful and in different colors. Sheck-it-out, no problem. Look all the different colors. Sheck-it-out, no problem."