The Northern Highlands – Markets, Lakes and Haciendas (6 December)

The altitude of 2700m was hard to appreciate in the wide valley of the Highlands. Volcanoes provided a spectacular backdrop to the landscape with peaks appearing and disappearing from their shroud of clouds. The mornings seemed to offer the best views.

The valley was where most people lived in a network of towns and smaller villages dominated by white buildings. The settlements were surrounded by agricultural land with patchworks of fields extending up the lower slopes of the peaks. The fields continued until the slope angle made cultivation impractical with natural vegetation beyond. In the valley intensive agriculture in plastic shrouded frames (a lightweight version of the traditional greenhouse) was common and used for many crops and beautiful flowers. The highway rose sellers had spectacular bunches of flowers. The Panamerican Highway running throughout the America’s is an impressively engineered three lane highway here passing through from north to south. Infrastructure seemed more developed than we’d expected.

The altitude only started to show up in a big way when you did physical activity. Our hikes around a couple of spectacular volcanic lakes in the area were very slow for the uphill segments. You concentrated on breathing and deliberately drew air into the lower part of your lungs to have enough puff to keep your legs ascending. Stairs were a particular killer. We went to our highest point so far yesterday of 3800m.

We didn’t entirely avoid the headaches and discomforts of altitude despite drinking lots of water and being conscious of the fearsome UV. James unfortunately got headaches and a blood nose but is all recovered now. Steve got a headache. I meanwhile managed to get an impressive triangle of sunburn below my neck from my camera tugging my shirt and not a great deal of sun exposure. The asthmatic was unscathed.

It’s hard to imagine a worse combination for UV exposure than full bore equatorial radiant energy, cool air lulling you into a false sense of security and the interplay of clouds and sunshine. The high peaks attract the cloud so there is a continuing movement of pockets of cloud and sunshine. There is a reason the misnamed Panama hat originates from Ecuador – UV.

Hat wearing was the norm. For older men and women the darker brown Panama was a popular choice. When sold, the hats were rolled up and put in painted boxes for the seller to takeaway. It seemed wrong to handle a hat in such a fashion. There was every other sort of hat too. Traditional attire was very visible being the colourful embroidered white blouses and black skirts for the women along with the darker angular men’s attire.

Otovalo was the major market town of the region with the majority of the vendors wearing traditional clothing. It was a market for traditional crafts and the more mundane everyday needs of life. The friendly locals were a delightful feature of the market. You wandered unmolested and bargaining was a casual, gentle affair. It was a real pleasure and conducted in co-operative spirit. These folk wanted to sell something in which they take a degree of pride be it their attractive artwork or western market goods such as sunglasses. Each item deserved consideration of the needs of the buyer and whether it is the right choice and a suitable price for the buyer and seller. My only disappointment was that it was too early in the trip for me to be motivated and decisive about purchase decisions. I left entirely empty handed on the craft line though I have done some research. There were great bags, jewellery, leather goods and interesting papercut images and paintings. I was just not in the mind set yet. An opportunity lost!

We had a pleasant overnight stay in downtown Otovalo discovering the local eating and café establishments. We ate out five times as we arrived around 9am initially and left after lunchtime the following day. After going back to same guide recommended place for the first two outings (we were jetlagged and uninspired) we tried the ‘let’s see which places are busiest’ technique. Anyway we hit the jackpot. We ate at very reasonable excellent local-endorsed establishments being a terrific pizza place (the mushrooms were divine) and a bustling restaurant (featuring delicious sauces, roasted meats and very large beer bottles – no guinea pigs fortunately).

A fun bar overlooking the main square was a great breakfast venue too watching the market setup and the sunlit looming volcano behind. We then spent a couple of nights at a historic 16^th century hacienda. It was a complex of white adobe buildings with red tiled roofs and courtyards surrounded by flowered gardens interspersed with cobbled paths. It was a beautiful place to stay with very characterful formal rooms – the lounge, dining room and library. It also had a great games room with a pool table, table tennis and darts. There was a former monastery adjacent. Both the hacienda and monastery were restored in recent times to their former glory. There were also some farm animals including a very fluffy llama – my first Ecuadorian sighting! We had a log fire in our adjacent rooms that would otherwise be a bit chilly and hot water bottles were delivered at bedtime. Needless to say we’re relaxing.