Los colores de Otovalo! (The colors of Otovalo)

We had a wonderful, slow-paced morning at our adorable hostel in Otovalo! We called a taxi, or rather the lady at the hostel called for us, and rode all the way to the center of Otovalo, to the Plaza de Panchos, which is full of crafts! From paintings to clothing to hammocks to scarves to little trinkets to many other things, mostly all brightly colored! The street and plaza seemed like a never ending sea of little tents, that seemed to go on and on! Of course we bought some things, and tried to be locals and barter, but we still stuck out as tourists with our huge backpacks and english accents! After the market, we caught a bus from the bus terminal, and hoped on one as it was leaving. We were so proud of ourselves for catching the correct bus and navigating through the unknown city by ourselves! The bus from Otovalo took us to the north bus terminal of quito, so we had to take another bus to the center of town! These two bus rides took a total of about 3 hours! Ximena had told us the place where we could catch the bus, and she told us to look for the bus with the green sign with yellow letters! So we were proud of ourselves again when we caught the right bus!!! Yay! Ximena met us at the bus stop and we walked up the hill to her house! We huffed and puffed as we were carrying packs, climbing hills, and being in elevation! We dropped off our big packs at her house and took the bus to the supermarket maxi. We bought many different kinds of tropical fruits! Back to Ximena's house for dinner and the night! We helped Ximena prepare dinner of 'small bull' meat, mashed potatoes, salad, and fried bananas. We had dinner with Ximena's niece and 2 friends from Ipiales, Colombia that are all living with Ximena. We are so grateful for how much Ximena has gone out of her way to help us! With her help we are able to try to experience things as a local would! Looking forward to meeting more of the friends tomorrow!