Things I will miss about Otavalo

I have some seriously pressing decisions to make my people. Good news is that I now able to feed myself regularly as my sickness from the past month is finally starting to ease up rather than gather more steam. Thanks to this cold’s iron grip, I am probably at my smallest I have been in 10 years right now, and not necessarily in a good way…

No matter, that just means more room for ice cream and cookies, right?!? But I am going to give returning to the humid coast a try this week, see how the lungs handle it. I need to pick up some belongings I left at H’s house, and then make some final choices.

You see, H has decided to stay on in Ecuador, measuring things for this project she has committed to. This means she needs to spend give or take 30 more days in the jungle and then maybe 2 weeks or so worth of data entry and supply gathering in between trips. This also means that I will be signed up for 30 more days alone… and my tourist visa for Ecuador runs out on July 17th. Also, I am blood oath sworn to be in Cusco, Peru by October 2nd at the latest…

So my options?
1. Stay as long as I can here in Ecuador, hoping that when she’s out of the jungle, H has time to see & travel towards the border of Peru with me before the 17th. Then continue south towards Cusco and hope H can catch up by October.
2. F and M have convincingly made me an offer to go back to the states and pass this time amongst family and friends while H is in the jungle. Then return once she has decided that she is done. This would leave a mad dash to Cusco afterwards where I would likely miss some of the remote spots I have been dreaming about…

Also to be kept in mind:
– I’m getting close to dead broke (because I’m already planning what I will need to have on hand by the time I’m ready to hike and explore Machu Pichu.) and need to find work sooner rather than later.
– I’m getting close to being too old to want to live like this much longer. I want a nest, and security, and my friends nearby, and an oven to bake in, and a job I like (this last one is a bit of a stretch, but a girl can dream).
– Once I’m out of funds for this trip, it’s back to working and saving and paying off this student loan debt that is slowly drowning me, so no more chances to drop everything and travel for quite some time…

So what do I choose? Travel alone (which is a form of self-torture that I cannot understand willingly choosing. If you’ve found a person who is your perfect life travel match, why would you choose to go alone?!?) or return to family (and probably miss some of the little treasures this world has to offer)? I would love opinions!

But on a lighter note, I will leave you all with a list of the things I will miss most about Otavalo, my home now for two weeks:

14. this view from my balcony

13. about 50% of the population wear their traditional clothes and look amazing

12. the sun is amazing when the clouds break

11. the colors of the town are like a rainbow exploded over every building, in every store, and on all the merchandise, in a good way

10. garbage trucks play pleasant music to let people know to bring out their rubbage

9. there is a craft market here every day

8. it’s massively impressive on Saturdays

7. people are soft-spoken, kind, smile a lot, and genuinely try to be helpful

6. my neighbor plays the Andean flute in the late morning, very pleasantly

5. hot water showers after 5 minutes wait!

4. food is already vegetarian, and they completely understand the request to not add meat to it.

3. Spanish is the second language here too, so everyone is trying equally to be understood and to understand

2. I can live comfortably on $15 a day, including everything.

And most importantly:

1. I receive no cat calls here… Really and truly! Men don’t even make inappropriate gestures or facial expressions. It’s a big deal for them if I even catch them looking at me

Tags: Ecuador, Otavalo, travel blog