Still masking, mostly


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 lap was a good place to nap, even though I had not offered any food, just ear scratches!

Always quick to adapt to a new sales opportunity, I noticed that in addition to the usual alpaca scarves, hats and sweaters, there are now rows of beautifully embroidered face masks! The city is quieter too. There is a curfew from 10pm to 4am although I am not sure that is due entirely to the pandemic. Having to show vaccination papers to go into the grocery store and restaurants is, though. And to buy bus tickets to Apuela. 

In Apuela, though, there is no sign of the pandemic. There is the occasional face mask, but they completely disappeared by the time we got to the farm. The main story at our farm is RAIN. It is the wet season after all, but the locals all say this year is exceptionally wet, and when it is not raining it is so humid (not hot though) you almost wish it was raining. Rubber boots are absolutely necessary, and I got used to putting them on as soon as my feet hit the floor. The other fact of farm life here is dogs. There is usually one, or two, or eight, following wherever we go. Our neighbour has at least 12 and when he went away for a couple of days, most of them came over to visit, probably because our land has the best view of the bridge that leads to the access road! There are also 4 horses, 4 steers/cows and innumerable chickens including 3 roosters and 3 recent sets of chicks. Waking up to 4am crowing is not so bad when we were usually in bed by 7:30!

After a week of living in a cloud (note, not on a cloud, very different) we are now back in Otavalo for a few days, to dry out a bit. As usual, we stopped by our favourite café, and quickly met a young lady who was learning English as a 5th language, (she already spoke a Quechua dialect, Spanish, Portuguese, and another language that I couldn't identify). Her English was at about the same level as my Spanish (slow and painful and a lot of searching for words) so we actually had a lovely conversation! We then met a group of expats that we know from the farm, followed by a family of Quebecois that we would have met last Sunday at a brunch that didn't happen because our friend from home was under the weather. Small world!

Okay, pictures!
• Serge clearing the brush away from our favourite perch very near where we are thinking of building a cottage (after we put in a driveway. I am NOT carrying everything in by hand!) There is a nice view of the valley towards Apuela behind him. 
• remember air plants? This is what they look like growing wild on a fence pole at the bottom of our land. Yes, the fence pole is also growing! The mountain in the background belongs to our neighbour.
• my attempt at a selfie when it was too bright to see anything on the screen. The dog is Billy, and you are seeing the result of a carefully negotiated compromise. Billy prefers laps. As his paws were wet, and muddy, I wasn't having any of that! Just under my arm, you can see the new house that our neighbour is building.
• the view nearly every morning. Cloud forest, yes, really.
• chickens do roost in trees when they can! The tree blocks the view, but behind is our mountain, in our 'back 80'!

All is well here in Otavalo. Will be heading back to Quito in a few days (have to arrange for another PCR test) but not before Saturday's market, which is a sight not to be missed. The whole of historical Otavalo turns into blocks and blocks of market stalls set up in the streets, by indigenous mostly for indigenous, all negotiating at volume. Something they've been doing here for hundreds, or maybe thousands of years. Fortunately, they've moved the live animals to a dedicated area out by the highway, or the Sunday morning clean up would be monstrous! Chickens, even goats, in narrow city streets are one thing. Cows, bulls and pigs are quite another!

That's all for now
KA

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