The next few weeks after Salento were a series of short, 2-3 day stops as we made our way across the border into Ecuador. While each of these places had its endearing qualities only Cali and Otavalo deserve special mention. I'm also incredibly behind on these posts and am never going to catch up unless I gloss over some of the more mundane adventures.
The Canadian girls took an early exit from Salento, leaving our van with the all-star team of myself, Pete, and Caroline. This would be our crew until a tearful departure in Quito two weeks later. Cali was only a 3 hour drive and we made quick work of the multi-lane, newly paved highways.
In all fairness to Cali, any place that we went after Salento was going to be a letdown. And we really never gave it much of a chance staying only two nights with little exploration. But Cali was not my favorite place of the trip.
If there has been a theme of South America so far it has been how incredibly nice everything has been. Cali was the first city that felt like how you might think a South American city would be - crowded, dilapidated, with a noticeable edge at night. Again this could have just been the area we were staying at and I really did not explore beyond a 10-block radius, but that was the general vibe.
With that out of the way, I did have one of my favorite nights of the trip there. Cali is known as the salsa capital of the world and it certainly did not disappoint in that department. Unfortunately there are no pictures, but our second night we ventured to a nearby salsa club for an incredible night of dancing. There was a good mix of tourists and locals and it was arguably more fun to watch some of the incredible couples twirl and glide about. At one point the entire club was salsa line-dancing, maybe my single favorite 10-minute snippet of the entire trip.
We left Cali for a two-day slog to the Ecuadorian border. We spent one night at another less-than-immaculate roadside motel and splurged on a very nice room in Pasto to wash the previous night away.
Aside from a quick jaunt once to Tiajuana I'd never crossed a border under my own power. Pete had warned of miserable checkpoints greased by hefty bribes in Central America, so we braced ourselves for a long day. Fortunately this one was easy -- we breezed through the Colombian immigration and car inspection and were only held up about 30 minutes in Ecuador as we scrambled to find an open photocopy shop for Pete's papers. With everything checked out we headed for Otavalo.
Otavalo rivals Salento for its beauty. Situated in the mountains a few hours outside of Quito, Otavalo is best known for its Saturday animal market that draws farmers from all over northern Ecuador. Unfortunately we were a day late for the market, but we still managed to have a good time.
For the most part we just enjoyed the nature: hikes to waterfalls, and lounging in hammocks, and looking out over this sweet land pier.
Otavalo also solidified the union of two groups into one travel family. As I mentioned earlier travelers tend to coalesce when on the same route. In Salento we met a group of 3 friends from Minnesota and a solo French backpacker who had joined together. We saw each other again in Cali and this marked the third time we had all stayed at the same hostel. For the next three weeks we would see each other at just about every place we went.
The hostel, Rose Cottage, was a series of small houses scattered across a grassy plateau.
These are the kind of views that you never grow tired of, but it was time to head to Quito and say goodbye to the van.
The Canadian girls took an early exit from Salento, leaving our van with the all-star team of myself, Pete, and Caroline. This would be our crew until a tearful departure in Quito two weeks later. Cali was only a 3 hour drive and we made quick work of the multi-lane, newly paved highways.
In all fairness to Cali, any place that we went after Salento was going to be a letdown. And we really never gave it much of a chance staying only two nights with little exploration. But Cali was not my favorite place of the trip.
If there has been a theme of South America so far it has been how incredibly nice everything has been. Cali was the first city that felt like how you might think a South American city would be - crowded, dilapidated, with a noticeable edge at night. Again this could have just been the area we were staying at and I really did not explore beyond a 10-block radius, but that was the general vibe.
With that out of the way, I did have one of my favorite nights of the trip there. Cali is known as the salsa capital of the world and it certainly did not disappoint in that department. Unfortunately there are no pictures, but our second night we ventured to a nearby salsa club for an incredible night of dancing. There was a good mix of tourists and locals and it was arguably more fun to watch some of the incredible couples twirl and glide about. At one point the entire club was salsa line-dancing, maybe my single favorite 10-minute snippet of the entire trip.
We left Cali for a two-day slog to the Ecuadorian border. We spent one night at another less-than-immaculate roadside motel and splurged on a very nice room in Pasto to wash the previous night away.
Aside from a quick jaunt once to Tiajuana I'd never crossed a border under my own power. Pete had warned of miserable checkpoints greased by hefty bribes in Central America, so we braced ourselves for a long day. Fortunately this one was easy -- we breezed through the Colombian immigration and car inspection and were only held up about 30 minutes in Ecuador as we scrambled to find an open photocopy shop for Pete's papers. With everything checked out we headed for Otavalo.
Otavalo rivals Salento for its beauty. Situated in the mountains a few hours outside of Quito, Otavalo is best known for its Saturday animal market that draws farmers from all over northern Ecuador. Unfortunately we were a day late for the market, but we still managed to have a good time.
For the most part we just enjoyed the nature: hikes to waterfalls, and lounging in hammocks, and looking out over this sweet land pier.
Otavalo also solidified the union of two groups into one travel family. As I mentioned earlier travelers tend to coalesce when on the same route. In Salento we met a group of 3 friends from Minnesota and a solo French backpacker who had joined together. We saw each other again in Cali and this marked the third time we had all stayed at the same hostel. For the next three weeks we would see each other at just about every place we went.
The hostel, Rose Cottage, was a series of small houses scattered across a grassy plateau.
With the exception of one elderly couple, the only residents of the hostal were our travel family, the
staff, and this guy who followed us around everywhere.
The dormitory was its own building, and with no one else around we essentially had our own house for a few days. Our last night we enjoyed a relaxing family dinner of chicken quesadillas and the Emperor's New Groove.
These are the kind of views that you never grow tired of, but it was time to head to Quito and say goodbye to the van.
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