I had to get to la Mariscal by 7am to meet my tour group today. Despite the seemingly endless array of taxis here, it took me about 25 minutes to catch a cab this rainy morning, and the Trole was out of the question as it was beyond packed. I ended up being 10 minutes early, before anyone else.
A few hours from Quito is small town Saquisilí which is famous for its market. We visited both the animal market and the regular market.
Llamas sell for about $170.
Don't worry, he wasn't on offer.
Lots and lots of muck. Glad I had gringo-clothes on which helped me weather the conditions.
These sheep are ready to be put into a truck and transported.
A woman on our tour had her camera robbed when she passed through a crowd at the market. We'd just been talking about how I got robbed and I'd said that even though you know it's happening in the moment, sometimes there's nothing you can do. She later knew what I was talking about. Luckily she only lost her camera and it had just fallen in the mud and was damaged, so she didn't feel too upset.
You can buy a guinea pig for about $5, and over here they're a source of food, not a pet.
Back on the road.
We stopped at a traditional indigenous hut. In this one, a family of 10 live in the one-room hut. They grow/raise the bulk of their food and they have a motorcycle to get around. The gas station is an hour away.
It's almost completely dark inside the hut, and tons of little guinea pigs were running around squealing on the floor.
The whole family sleeps in the same bed. Our guide told us that the parents wait till the kids are asleep then have sex outside.
warm beans and potatoes
The girls marry at about 13 and have 3-4 kids early on.
Our next stop was to see the Quilotoa Lake. We hiked down a trail, trying to glimpse the lake through the clouds.
More slippery mud.
...slowly revealing herself
The water was pretty warm. One guy in our group went for a dip.
The hike back uphill seemed extra long since it was steep and raining.
Warm lunch after using up energy on the hike in the rain tastes even better.
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