e2e.bike

Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond

Menu
  • End to Ends
    • Britain
    • Ireland
    • France
    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Belgium
    • Netherlands
    • Luxembourg
    • Austria
    • Switzerland
    • Denmark
    • Czechia
    • Slovakia
    • Poland
    • Latvia
    • Cuba
    • Sri Lanka
    • Taiwan
    • Isle of Man
    • Faroes
    • Liechtenstein
  • Coast to Coasts
  • Yorkshire Ridings
  • Others
  • Writings
Menu
← PreviousNext →

Ecuador: Local life, Otavalo

Posted on 28 September 20142 April 2021 by Rob Ainsley

I hired a bike in Otavalo today, to explore the surrounding scenery and indigenous villages. I know two things from experience: if in doubt, hiring a bike is always the right thing to do; and it’ll always be too small for my 33″ inside leg. Both proved true again, as I cycled a few kilometres into the hills outside the town, enjoying the fine scenery, when it wasn’t being blocked by my knees.




These locals (pic) are waiting for the Sunday church service to start in the village of Iluman. Like virtually all locals, they’re in traditional costume, which consists of headdresses, embroidered blouses and shawls for the women, and hats and ponchos, or Barcelona football shirts, for the men.



Iluman must be quite a local service town, because it has a bike shop (pic). It also has all the other things you’d expect in a regional centre for a rural backwater, such as a church, bank, car workshop, and centre for treating alcohol and drug addiction.



Down the road in Peguche, another indigenous village, there was a fiesta, organised by the local authorities. I enjoyed some excellent caldo de patas (a tasty big fresh-herby soup with potatoes and bits of meat) and guanabana (custard apple drink), there was a mobile walk-in dentist and psychologist, and there were balloons and pot plants up for grabs free, which the kids snapped up happily (pic).



After sightseeing the modestly pleasant Peguche Falls, I cycled up and over the mountain on a very bumpy cobbled road to Laguna San Pablo (pic). On the way back I got a puncture and had to walk the last 4km to the bike rental place, and I wasn’t smiling quite as much then.

Previous
←   Colombia: Ciclovía, Bogotá
Next
Ecuador: Village life, Baños →

You are here

e2e.bike > Other > South America > Ecuador: Local life, Otavalo

Recent Posts

  • Thankful Yorks 3 and 4: Norton-le-Clay and Cundall 10 July 2025
  • Thankful Yorks 2: Catwick 25 June 2025
  • Schleswig-Holstein: That is the question 6 June 2025

Random Posts

  • Slovakia 6: Ružomberok to Štrba12 April 2022
    A glorious day of windless sunshine, blue skies, and the snowy peaks …
  • Britain 5: Taunton to Bath9 June 1997
    I may only have been a quarter of the way to John …
  • Bury St Edmunds: Who was Clare Castle?18 February 2020
    Splendid day researching cycle routes with Nigel in friendly Suffolk. Definitely not …

Search e2e.bike

Find me

        
Facebook • Twitter • Linked In • Email
© 2025 e2e.bike | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme