Walking back to Otavalo after the Raptor show.

January 8, 2009

This lovely child shyly greeted us at the entrance to the Condor Park, 5 km outside Otavalo on top of an isolated hill.  As there were no other vehicles in sight we asked the taxi driver that brought us there to come back in 2 hours to pick us up, but he never returned. I guess the $3 fare wasn't enough to entice him back. Turned out to be the best thing for us as the walk back  down to Otavalo was incredibly beautiful.

The arena for the raptor show overlooking everything.

This is a rehab center for injured birds, 90 percent of the birds that come here are released back to the wild.

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

American Kestrel in foreground and Aplomado Falcon in the background.

Aplomado Falcon

Janet and Ian were huddled in this Adobe courtyard trying to stay out of the wind.  Janet took this photo of me returning from a fruitless expedition to find some hot tea.

Making the best of a windy waiting-for-the taxi-that-never-came.

Note handmade mud walls.

Condor in captivity.

We start walking down the hill. The taxi in the distance is someone else's and the last car we saw until we were back in Otavalo.

Farming barefoot.

 Volcan Imbabura. 

An older woman bringing a very large bunch of sticks up the hill, very hardy! No rest home for her.

Stunning views of Lago San Pablo. It's impossible to capture how grand everything looked in a small photo.

Some kind of three sisters growing system, the vine wrapped it's way around the corn and another plant was just starting. Don't know what the purple flowers vine plant is called...

Lago San Pablo.

A determined shepherdess coming for us, asking for money because we took a photo of her pigs. Even after we gave her some money she would not allow photos of her. I shot this from my hip before the conversation started. In Spanish.

Same woman from previous photo walking up the hill with her flock of pigs and sheep.

Tree tomato tree.

The actual tree tomato fruit, makes a great juice, but Ian didn't like it at all.

Our destination after a lovely 2 hour walk: Otavalo.

A modern home, maybe condos?

Close up of a more traditional home in Otavalo.