Doogs in Latin America: Otovalo and back to Colombia

When you get some bad news like that, there´s only one thing for it - shopping. En route from Quito was the lovely market town of Otovalo, home to the friendliest ecuadorians and the cheapest handmade clothing this side of the equator (just). We spent a couple of days enjoying the chilled vibe and visiting a local Condor sanctuary with some brits we met, then continued on back to Ipiales and the historic town of Popayan, which had been levelled twice by earthquakes in the past century, but rebuilt to its 16th century glory.

Laur sips coconut water at Otovalo market

A local in Otovalo with the trademark hat and ponytail

Raptors!

American eagle

King of birds - the andean condor up close!

As a stinger to the Quito disappointment, we had been presented with a ludicrous 16-point list of things to present for a visa for Laura to enter Argentina to get her flight back (passed to us from behind a mirror while other furious victims of the system raged impotently in the corridor), so we had changed it to leave from Bogota. With this in mind we headed for the mystical region of San Augustin, where hundreds of pre-Colombian statues were scattered round a huge natural reserve.

central square in Popoyan, Colombia

The dome in Popoyan, faithfully rebuilt after two major earthquakes

Having endured a long, bumpy bus ride, again through bandit country as half of Colombia seems to be, we thought the best thing for our backsides would be 4 hours in the saddle; which made for a fantastic day in an evocative landscape (pics coming!). Reluctantly leaving the idyllic ecolodge which had been our base for the previous few days, we headed back to Bogota for a final big weekend. It turned out to be a bit too big, and cultural plans (other than a fleeting visit to the Museum of Gold) were marred by a massive hangover and the loss of Laura´s camera in a taxi the night before - our streak of bad luck was continuing.