We started the day (after the cutest breakfast was delivered to our yurts) with a tour of a bizcochas bakery. The bakery also housed a small gallery of work by a local artist and composer. And we spent some time trying to find the absolute equator by walking around in the street using googlemaps.

It would have been a spectacularly beautiful route had it been sunny. A winding paved road through farmland, and then to finish, about 10kms of downhill on paving stones through a never-ending town. We made an unscheduled stop to poke our heads into a greenhouse filled with roses, and wow are those a finicky crop to grow. So much pruning to get long straight stems with a single large flowerbud. I was also surprised how mature the flowers are at picking time – the transportation must be rigorous about temperature control.

I’ve never had a bad dog experience before, but when we stopped for a banos break at a gas station, I went into the bathroom and was startled that this dog was rushing to get into the bathroom too, but he wasn’t going for the toilet, he took a nip at my ankle. What a dork.

We spent the evening in Otovalo, a beautiful small city with a majority indigenous population. We caught the tail end of a huge craft market. I was surprised by how many families were out for the evening together, and how much PDA and hand-holding we saw. We purchased a doll for new years eve and called him Miho. (Local slang for “my son”) We a little bit (quite a bit!) wished we would be spending new years eve here rather than in Quito: the vibe was lovely. Our guides told us that the indigenous culture here is very intolerant of stealing or dishonesty, and therefore it’s a very safe place. At the hotel, Jeannie and I went to the common space to eat our snacks for supper, and we met a lovely family on holiday from Colombia. They practiced their English and we (mostly Jeannie!) practiced our Spanish.

F