Tuesday 16.9.14 – Tour to Otavalo.

Dressed for dinner and went down at 7.00 to be met by Roberto. They had set up a long table for the group – I sat next to Bob from San Diego and opposite Karla and Bruce/Jan and Doug. Nearly all that we have spoken too have done multiple Aurora trips

Jan recalled the date from the wreath at Independence statue this morning, 15.9.1821, it is independence day in Ecuador and a number of other countries.

Really early start this morning, wake up call at 5.45 in readiness for departure at 7.00.

The bus arrived a little late, evidently a motorbike accident on the slippery roads, it was raining this morning.

The traffic was horrendous and it took us some time to get out past the airport and into the countryside. We passed through El Quince with its blue domed church.

Some facts we learnt today:
There are 2.5Million people in Quito and 1 million cars, they have a roster system based on number plates, so they can only drive their vehicle on certain days of the week. However to get around this issue, many families purchased a second cheaper car, so it didn’t actually solve the traffic problem for long.

We stopped to visit Roseda Rose farm and the Hacienda of the family, the old house was built in 1919.

The Rose farm was all in greenhouses, and amazing to see the extent of their operation, they had lots of workers. The stems can be up to 1.85metres. In the greenhouse, many of the buds are sheathed in a plastic mesh, to hold their shape…amazingly intensive industry.

We looked through a couple of greenhouses, and then into the factory.

The trolley thingo that moves the
roses into the factory from
Greenhouses.

Roberto, our guide explaining
the rose operation.

Hectares and hectares of roses. 

The sheath to protect the bud.

Roses.

The roses once cut in the greenhouse are put into little carriers that then slot onto an overhead trolley system, which is pushed into the factory where they are measured, sorted, cut, boxed etc.

In bunches, with heads boxed,
down the conveyor to be
chopped to the same length and
packed ready to go.

Putting the heads into the boxes.

Sorting into colours and lengths.

Gathering them together.

Roses and more roses.

The boxed roses from above

Wrapped, boxed again and ready to go.

Then we drove up to the Hacienda and we were greeted by the owner and his family who came out in traditional dress and served us a delicious blackberry juice and amazing biscuit with fresh make cows milk cheese.

A fountain full of rose petals.

The Hacienda and garden.

Here come the biscuits and
cheese. Lady in traditional dress.

The biscuit was crumbly and buttery and went really well with the cheese. The biscuits were especially good, as the use eucalyptus wood to cook them in the oven.

Then we went inside, where they had roses arranged EVERYWHERE, plus in a stable across the way.

During the trip we crossed between Pinchincha Province into Imbabura province, we saw the bottom of many volcanoes, as the weather was pretty ordinary in the morning.

We passed many small farming properties, farming things such as strawberries, cows, pigs, avocado, corn and other things we couldn’t identify.

We stopped at Lago San Pablo for lunch at a Hosteria, lunch was lovely, though raining and cloudy when we arrived which obscured what would be great views over the Lake and a Volcano. Our table was right on the window and low to the Lake, we sat with Jan and Doug, bird watchers, we saw some Andean Coots and Spotted Sandpipers. There were also some local women on the lake edge in the reeds fishing with nets. I had potato soup, grilled chicken and apple pie and a taste of Sue’s Blackberry and Sour Sop icecream which was all delicious. Even better the clouds cleared and we got a view of the Volcan Imbabura.

Some of the group saw two hummingbirds, one a rarely sighted vermillion.

Volcano xxx?

Getting less cloudy.

A spotted sandpiper I think.

Obligatory selfie.

Cute little guy, like a sparrow with a mohawk.

Then off to Otavalo to the local markets, which were a tad disappointing, lots of the same stuff but colourful and worth a look.

Tablecloths/rugs at the market.

Painted gourds.

Back onto bus at 3.00pm for a 3 hour trip back to Quito.

Cotapaxi behind the clouds. We couldn't see it at
all in the morning.

Sue at a roadside lookout photographing Cotapaxi.

There it is.

A cactus flower at the lookout stop.

Cotapaxi.

Bad pic of some of the work gone into the new road
we are a bit obsessed with.

More of the new road.

Out to Mea Culpa for dinner again.

Stopped at a lookout on the road to look at Volcanoes – Cayambe and Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi, which we go to later in our tour, is the highest active volcano in the world.

We got brilliant views from the bus but couldn’t stop. The sun was shining onto the snow at the top of Cotapaxi – frustrating.

Back into hotel about 6.15, we arranged our checkout and then started to re-organise our packing, leaving some stuff here at the hotel to be collected on return to Quito.

I took off with the group to Mea Culpa for dinner and Sue ditched us to head to Vista Hermosa again.

I sat with Leani from Aurora, who is absolutely lovely, it’s great to meet her after dealing with her in arranging our Antarctic trip. Also sat with Setsuyae and Graham, Ross and Penny, Joy and David. Lovely food and interesting company.

Last group home, repack and packed ready for 5.30 wake up call.

No time to prepare and upload blog tonight, will catch up later.