First half of our Otavalo trip

After our exams and final presentations Friday morning, we ran home to eat and pack before we met at ACLAS for our adventure to Otavalo! We left at 4pm, drove about an hour to a precious little town (I've forgotten the name, but will find out) to see the famous bread artwork. Starting with what looks like the beginning of a pretzel, these artists twist and shape and mold dough into miniature animals, life-sized parrots and turtles, and hundreds of versions of the Nativity scene. I assume there's a baking process, and then the figurines are painted and sold, dirt-cheap, to the gringos who frequent their sleepy town. I bought some Christmas tree ornaments, and a beautiful owl figurine. There are pictures on my photobucket site.

After we'd had our fill, we returned to the bus for the last leg of our journey to Otavalo. It was dark by the time we arrived at our hotel, The Indio Inn, to unpack and have cafecito in the hotel restaurant. Anyel, Allison and I shared a beautiful room with two single beds and a double, and a very sufficient bathroom. I took a picture of the embroidered artwork on the wall, and some of the room.

After dinner, Allison and Anyel and I had some precious conversation time in the room, and then the whole group met to walk to a little bar/restaurant with great live music and dancing. I decided that the combination of my height and something else must make me appear a lot older than 20, because, like always, the mildly creepy 30-something sought me out to dance. It was actually very fun, because he taught me some new steps. BUT, right about the time that I was ready to take a break, this man of about 5 1/2 feet tried to pick me up!! I squirmed like mad, laughing, and he said "eres tan grande." That means, you're really large. I laughed again, saying, "si, soy muy alta." That means, yes, I'm very TALL. Haha... I promptly thanked him for dancing and ran to the bar to laugh and recount my story to Anyel and Laura. About half an hour later, he targeted Laura. He tried the same stunt with her, but before she could wriggle away he had her in the air, legs flailing and curly hair swishing in her face. Anyel and I happened to glance over just at the moment and were doubled over with laughter. She pushed him away, no "thank you" or "I'm going to sit for a while" or "what the ** was that?"... just a glare and a handprint on his chest. We saw him periodically the rest of the night, pouting in the corner, alone with his cut-off t-shirt, ponytail, and nearly-empty glass of whiskey. No hard feelings?