Visit to Cotacachi

After a really bad sleep we were able to change our bedroom for one with twin beds.  France is bad enough with its 1m40, but I reckon this bed was 1m20!!  Since heard from someone else that they find the beds so small so I think it will be singles from now on!!  The locals are small - but they are invariably 'round', so would have thought a few more centimetres would have been good for them too - maybe they lie the other way around!

Today we visited Cotacachi, which is 12Km north of Otavalo, where we are staying.  It is known for its leather goods(jackets,belts, handbags - you name it they can make it!).  So of course I brought a handbag, simple, and Rob a wallet as his was starting to break.  It started to rain at lunchtime but that was no problem as we found a nice restaurant with some live music (guitan and pan pipes).  Cotacachi is smaller than Otavalo, but more affluent - almost no shanty housing and most houses seemed finished off which is not the general rule from what we've seen so far.

We took the local bus to Cotacachi - 25 US cents per person each way.  Good fun - all types came with us, but no animals!  Ice cream sellers, fruit sellers etc come on the bus before departure (and during!) to sell their wares - haven't worked out how they keep the ice creams solid as its quite humid at times.   The hotel owner says the local buses here are safer than those in/around Quito.