Yamatout

February 1, 2022 We are still masking in Otavalo, although we now see the occasional real face, usually older and indigenous, but only outside. Whether they have masks when inside is hard to tell because here, you can do just about everything outside. Even when it is not market day (Saturdays) there are open air stalls and kiosks for everything from food to carpets (seriously, I saw a street vendor with a big box of wait for it, bras, fitting might be problematic!), especially when you get out of the tourist area (prices get better too). Not much has changed. Some has, Serge's favourite Chinese restaurant has closed, a victim of the pandemic, but some has changed for the better. His favourite café has moved to just across the corner from our usual hostal! What used to be another hostel built around a very nice courtyard has now become almost a food fair with about 4 or 5 restaurants each taking over a few former rooms. I was quickly adopted by a local cat who decided my...

Jan 23, 2022 Hola los amigos y la familia! Yes, Serge and I are down in Ecuador to visit the farm for a few days. We have not escaped covid, although vaccination, booster, and negative PCR might suggest otherwise. Ecuador takes covid VERY seriously. Temperature scanners are at every entrance to malls and other large venues, and you have to show your vaccination papers to get in. Same thing at restaurants, and when in public, masks are worn All The Time, even walking outside. And you see a lot of double masking and KN-95's. Walking back to the hotel, I even saw one woman, I kid you not, wearing 2 surgical masks under a N95 mask! It will be interesting to see if this vigilance continues in Otavalo and Apuela. The hotel we are staying in for a couple of days is very near the city center. In fact, if you look hard you can see the Quicentro sign (hint it is the turquoise blob between the middle two brown apartment blocks). We can walk there in 20 or 30 minutes (note, walk t...

Oh dear, this seemed like a good idea until I saw this blank page staring at me... Why this blog? Well, like everyone I have a running commentary in my head, which occasionally I share with people, usually at Christmas, or when I am traveling. In the past, I could put pictures and stuff where I wanted  in my emails, but Gmail has changed, and now they all mob at the bottom. (Now how do I turn off the underline, and why did it turn on in the first place. This might be a steeper learning curve than I thought.)  Success! Now where was I, oh yes, pictures. Pictures all clumping at the bottom is not satisfactory when you want explanations to accompany the images, so maybe a blog might be a better option, since I want something that I can get to from both my laptop and my phone. And maybe sending it out might be easier than the painstaking typing in of the many many email addresses on the mailing list, which took longer this winter when I was in Ecuador, than writing the email in th...

  "There's nothing here" Seems appropriate