North of Quito Ecuador

Moving north from Quito, we visited the town of Otavalo which had some of the biggest outdoor markets in South America. It was amazing, literally a whole town was an outdoor market, with everything under the sun. Could have gone nuts on the purchases. Unfortunately we only had an hour or so there, and didn't scratch the surface. We visited the Reserva Ecologica Cotachi and volcan cotacachi which was an extinct volcano crater now filled with water. At 3000 metres it was a battle to reach the crater, but the 30 year old in the party had no issues. We then hit the town of Cotacachi which is famous for its leather. Street after street with awesome shoes, and leather jacket shops, that were super cheap. I was forced to leave empty handed as we just can't carry anymore, Devo! But someone else scored a new sexy leather jacket, but is concerned it's to sexy.....it can never be too sexy.

                                          This lady was a traditional weaver, lama wool used.

                                                    Some locals prepare for the market.

The now extinct crater.

It's along way to the top, at 3000 metres.

The countryside Northern Ecuador