January 4

We woke up and headed to the flower plantation. On the way we stopped at the Equator.










They also stopped and picked up a local treat for us. It’s little biscuits (called biscoches) and we dipped them in caramel sauce (aka HEAVEN).


Now for the flower plantation. Pretty cool. Huge makeshift greenhouses (I say “makeshift because they are poles and plastic wrap…the plastic gets changed after a couple years, when it loses its protective properties). They grow tons of roses. Apparently Holland actually comes up with the “recipes” and they do testing on the growing conditions.







They have two ways of growing, one in soil, the other in suspended pots. There’s a fancy name for it that I forgot.




But anyway, they try them out. Some apparently do better with UV protection. Ecuador is just a prime place to grow because it has equal night and day, and pretty consistent weather. So they do well with growing things year round.













these “hallways” are along the perimeter of the greenhouses, and they have cables on which they hang bins to carry the cut roses to other areas. These hallways feel about 20 degrees cooler than inside the greenhouses.




About 45% of this place’s roses get shipped to the U.S. They sell them for like, 45 cents per bundle of 15 to the locals (which I think is actually at a loss)…but sell them for about 30 cents a stem as exports.




We all got a red and a yellow.






Then we drove to a nearby hacienda for lunch.








It was a a good meal of grilled chicken, potatoes, and salad.

Somewhat generic, but tasted really good in comparison to some of our meals. Dessert was bread pudding which had an excellent sauce.

Then we drove some more for our hike. It was around the rim of a crater lake (not the whole rim though).





















It wasn’t as hard as the bike riding, but those uphills were pretty tough. Some stretches were just the gravel, but some had actual stairs (formed from logs). We were sorta split in two groups (not really on purpose, there are just two guides) and the second group didn’t even make it up to the farthest point that we (the first group) went. Going back down was nice and easy though. I sorta left my group in the dust because I tend to run down stairs. I think it comes from growing up in a house with stairs, I take them faster than normal. And I have pretty decent depth perception so I just let gravity run its course and watch my step.

Back on the bus they passed out Oreos and Ruffles potato chips. We ended up at our hotel for the night, right in the heart of Otavalo. The huge market they have here is just a block or two away.

Fun picture


We went to a restaurant for pizza that was amazing.


The local band was pretty awesome too.

(video to come)

we danced


Then, stuffed to the brim, we returned to the hotel. We reconvened minutes later to go out to a club, so we could strut our salsa expertise. I ended up dancing with a local named Julio several times. He seemed rather impressed that I almost had my masters. He apparently wants a masters in sustainable agriculture (totally useful in Ecuador). I cut out a little earlier than most people, I just need my sleep. And I actually am not that into getting completely blitzed on these kinds of vacations. I want to enjoy my time here, not be hungover for half a day. If we were just lying around on the beach for a week I’d be fine with staying out late and getting trashed. But I want to be up in the morning, because there’s a huge market out there, and I love to shop.