Otavalo Market: A Rainbow of Colors

Taking a break from the life of luxury at our lodge, Kelsi and I spent our Saturday in Ecuador at the outdoor market in Otavalo. As one of South America's largest markets, we had heard a lot of stories prior to our visit and we were excited for some great shopping and sights. Every Saturday people from Otavalo (Otavaleños) and the surrounding villages converge on the center of town for an animal market, food market and artisan craft market .

We started our day at the animal market, on the outskirts of town, where we took in the sights of cows, goats, chickens, pigs and pretty much any animal you can think of being sold. The crowds and the smells overwhelmed us, so we didn't stay long, just enough to snap a few pictures of the organized chaos.

Animal market - care for a cow?

The proper way to carry a live chicken.

Next we headed over to the food market. Based on the delicious fruit we were eating at the lodge, I knew this would be a sight to see! The fruits, vegetables, and grains were all so brightly colored and looking absolutely stunning. Also, seeing all the fruit that people bring to town every week was impressive. I cannot imagine bringing all that fruit and arranging it just so!

Fruits & veggies.

So much pineapple!

Finally, we ended at the Plaza de Ponchos for the artisan market. Mostly female vendors set up shop to sell blankets, pajamas, purses, jewelry, paintings, mugs, artwork, alpaca ponchos nad more. They are all pretty friendly and seemed happy to talk to us about their work as well as to bargain for prices. We ran into some friends at the market, shopped around, found a cute cafe for lunch and enjoyed the commotion of the plaza.

Jewelry for sale! Ecuadorian women wear a lot of red necklaces and bracelets to represent the red of the earth.

A variety of paintings and art. I bought something similar to these with a scene from a traditional town square set in brown, pink and green tones!

Art made from eucalyptus leaves.

For more information and more photos about the market check out this blog.

New Swimsuit

Ignore the awkward bathroom tile in the background and start LOOOOOOVING my new swimsuit as much as I do!! Now I just need to plan a trip so I can wear it...

Ah yes, nothing like a little retail therapy to help a girl forget the self-destruction that was the 2010 Minnesota Twins postseason.

Long Public Transportation Adventures, Great Company, and the Single Girl Life

For what seems like the first time in a long while, I spent a whole weekend here in Cali - continuing to explore this city I plan to call home for at least another year and a half. Exploring the city is important to me because when I know the place where I live I feel more comfortable and more adjusted. Less like I am just living here to pass the time, and more like this is my home. Speaking of living...Maggie and Mark officially moved into their new place, about 10 minutes from this apartment, so here I am living in my bachelorette pad for a month until I also move!

So this weekend...Friday night I went out to dinner in Granada, this really cool restaurant/shopping area of Cali. For Minnesota people, think of my neighborhood as the suburbs and Granada as Grand Avenue. Needless to say, I love any chance to go there and explore. Added bonus: Granada is super close to my new apartment! Friday night I went to dinner with Steph, Hana, (my new roommates) and Kelsi. We took the Mio there, however we missed the stop for Granada on the bus, so we ended up riding that particular bus in an entire loop that took about an hour. Essentially we have now seen all of Northern Cali via public transportation and ended up at the restaurant an hour and a half later than necessary. Whoops! Once we finally arrived at Platillos Voladores (Flying Saucers), we had delicious food, drinks and reminisced about forgotten things from our childhood. For example, who remembers 2gether??? Fake boy band with a television show on MTV meant to spoof other boy bands of the time...aka 'NSync, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, etc.

We were laughing to the point of tears discussing 2gether and their original, made for MTV movie. Those who don't remember, please enjoy this music video courtesy of You Tube. :) "I know my calculus, it says you plus me equals us." Hahahaha.

Needless to say I woke up Saturday morning and Kelsi had already posted links to other 2gether songs on my Facebook. Love it. Saturday the two of us headed up to Centro, the city center, to do some discount shopping on sunglasses, shoes and more. We took the Mio again, right to the city center, which was crazy. Saturday is definitely the day to be out and about in Cali, so the streets were streaming with vendors for everything you could imagine. Of course, since we are white Americans, we look completely out of place, so people were literally screaming at us in Spanish to buy their stuff. Ridiculous. I loved the experience of going there, but it was certainly intense. We ducked into shops on more than one occasion to take some deep breaths before hitting the streets again. The part of Centro we went to is called San Andresito, which basically means "Little San Andres". The Colombian owned Caribbean island, San Andres, is a big place for import stuff, so pretty much every big city in Colombia has an area called "Little San Andres" that is essentially a black market location for everything imaginable.

After making our purchases we jumped back on the most crowded bus of my life! Cali is still developing the Mio system and one thing they need ASAP is more buses! For public transportation to work well, it must be readily available...which they are working on, I hope. We rode on the crowded bus for about 10 minutes until we arrived at Steph & Hana's. We strolled over to visit them and check out my soon to be apartment, because I haven't seen it since they moved in! They have a huge living space and they overlook a park, so I think I am going to love living there. We relaxed a bit there before heading home to make dinner and go out. Later that night Kelsi and I met up with some friends at Route 66, an American type bar in Cali, located on 66th Street. :)

I must say originally I felt a bit nervous about having my closest friends here also be my colleagues. Normally, one would try not to associate too much with colleagues outside of work. However, I have been so amazed here by the wonderful people I work with. They are so much fun and we all seem to be able to find the appropriate lines between work life and social life. Whenever we get together in groups I leave feeling so happy about the amazing people I am surrounded by. Since we all chose to do something a little bit out of the ordinary we usually have some common personality traits, or common ideas or values, which has served as a great basis for building relationships.

So...that brings us to Sunday. I think I am going to get to work on writing that Algebra final today...cause let's be honest...I'm not bringing anything related to students or school to that all-inclusive Thanksgiving beach vacation I have planned. ;)

Happy Sunday friends!

Maggie and Kristin's Day of Productivity

As a teacher, female and oldest of three siblings, nothing makes me happier than productivity.  Judge all you want, but I seriously thrive on it.  If this productivity had anything to do with lesson plans I would call Sunday the best day ever…but it doesn’t so I will settle for exceptionally successful.

Sunday's list of accomplishments begins with breakfast; a great place to start if you ask me.  Maggie and I walked down the Paso Ancho, which is a main road near our neighborhood.  In Spanish, Paso Ancho literally means wide pass or wide street.  So we walk for about 10 minutes to Pasopan, a bakery/breadshop we spotted a few days ago.  We proceeded to enjoy café espresso with milk, pastries and a vegetarian omlette for $8,000 pesos or about $4 US. LOVE it.

From there we proceeded to La Catorce to do our weekly grocery shopping and pick up some essentials.  We found the bug spray and each bought two bottles because the bugs here in Colombia have waged war on our shins and they are definitely winning.  We hope the purchase serve as a turning point.  We also bought our weekly supply of granola and yogurt, which I have become completely addicted to after having it at the Radisson’s continental breakfast everyday during the first week, as well as arepas and cheese.  Arepas are little corn/bread type tortilla things…sort of the size of a pancake.  They are pretty bland by themselves but cooked lightly with melted cheese on top they are an amazing breakfast.  Maggie & I have a serious arepa addiction.  Upon leaving La Catorce we were able to pay with our Sedexo coupons (sort of like the Colombian version of food stamps…but for middle class people) and debit cards without issues! Hooray for not being poor Americans anymore!

After La Catorce we headed to the Club (see previous post) for yoga class.  I felt a bit nervous because Maggie has only just begun to teach me some yoga things, but her and Catie assured me it was fine.  Turns out it was more than fine because what we thought was a new class at 12 was actually the continuation/cool down of an 11:00 class.  Therefore my first yoga experience was pretty simple.  While not a complete let down, I think we were all hoping for a more complete experience.  We will continue to seek it out in other locations!

Next we made our way to the artisan markets at Loma de la Cruz to pick up Maggie’s sandals.  In the process I also found myself a new purse, which is just perfect!  I love the colors and it is exactly what I have been looking for.  Long enough to hang over my shoulder, but also with a zipper to protect my belongings.  Hooray!  I also purchased some shoes from the same lady who made Maggie's.

View of Three Crosses monument from the Loma de la Cruz

View of small street the market is on (shops are to the left)

New purse

New shoes

Upon leaving we decided to attempt to master El Mio, the Cali version of a Metro/public transit.  The system is only 1-2 years old and is actually just a set of blue busses that run throughout the city.  The main line runs down La Quinta (fifth) which is actually Calle (Street) 5, a major street from North to South Cali.  We got Mio cards and hopped on the buss with costs $1,500 pesos ($0.75 US) to ride anywhere.  After a somewhat detailed conversation with the woman at the ticket booth we found the right bus number and hopped on!  Busses come about every 5 minutes, and while the busses still have to wait at all stoplights, they have their own lane so even on a non-express bus (express busses are only on weekdays) the ride was only 25 minutes long (takes about 15 minutes in a cab).  We feel very excited to have discovered how easy the Mio is and we will probably be using it more frequently now.  Taxis in Cali are very popular and pretty economical, but as with anything, public transit is of course cheaper.  FUN FACT: There are more taxis in Cali than in New York City---ridiculous, huh??

The Mio lets us off at an outdoor mall by our house called Unicentro, about a ten minute walk.  We stopped off at Juan Valdez Café, which is the best coffee shop in Cali, according to my students and others.  Maggie and I both enjoyed iced mochas with vanilla.  DELICIOUS!  Iced coffee literally completes my life every time I have it…it’s just so good.  So far the only thing Colombia seems to be lacking in is Chai tea, which I still have yet to find…(ILSE---I believe you will agree this is clearly stressful; please have a soy Chai for me soon!)

Geyser...in the middle of Unicentro Mall.  Weird and yet pleasantly delightful.

Maggie browsing shoes we can't afford.

Iced mocha with vanilla. Thanks Juan Valdez.

Last night we enjoyed some downtime, revealing in our productivity and looking ahead to the second week of school.  This week we are discussing the Distributive Property, which is essential for so many things in Algebra, and I have a fun activity planned for it!  Reference I am a math nerd…sorry!

Exciting events to look forward to this week:

• A trip to Zara (clothing store I became addicted to in Spain, which they also have here in Colombia)
• Beginning of regular ultimate frisbee games between teachers after school on Tuesdays
• Welcome back Happy Hour @ the director’s house on Friday afternoon
• Curtain installation!!
• Potential planning for upcoming trips around Colombia

And finally, the perfect ending to our wonderful day. :) 

White rice + tons of cooked veggies + tilapia + wine = delicious.

River crossings here I come...

I figure my outdoorsy side will be more frequently used in Colombia than my sit around with girlfriends and drink wine in heels like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City side...alas my newest purchase from REI. :) I love them, and have been walking around in my house in them since arriving home. Basically I hope they lead me on lots of adventures in some amount of style and lots of comfort!