When I had had enough of Otavalo, I thought I’d head to nearby San Pablo, find a tree next to its large lake, sit under it and read a book all day long. With this in mind, I got to the bus stand in Otavalo where there were several stalls selling food. I sat at one of the stalls and bought some fried fish. It was really tasty. So I added fried fish to the plan. The new plan was to head to San Pablo, find a tree next to its large lake, sit under it, read a book and eat fried fish all day long. So I bought more of the fried fish, and hopped on a bus to San Pablo.

What I had not accounted for was the smell of the fish. No sooner had we been travelling for a few minutes that the smell of the fish filled the bus. This pissed off the driver and the conductor of the bus so much that they stopped the bus and asked whoever had brought the fish to get out. I was worried about the potential embarrassment if discovered, but more importantly, my master plan of spending the day under a tree by the lake reading a book and eating fried fish was now at risk. So I stayed put. When nobody moved even after the conductor’s repeated and angry outbursts, he started going from seat-to-seat looking for the culprit. Discretely, I kept the polythene bag with the fish next to my feet and my daypack on my lap so the polythene bag couldn’t be seen. When the conductor reached my seat, I pretended to be the dumb foreigner who doesn’t speak a word and doesn’t understand a thing. I just looked quizzically at his angry face and shrugged my shoulders. It worked and he left me alone. After a while, they gave up and continued the journey. I think I held my breath all the way to San Pablo where both me and my fried fish could finally get off.

The first order of business at San Pablo was to find a place to stay so I could leave my heavy backpack there. But there was only a single super-expensive hotel, and no other hostels. So I went straight to the lake instead. But there was major disappointment in store for me there. It was not in the least like what I had imagined. A small pier had been built by the lake, and there were many tourists. Admittedly, it was a picturesque location with the volcano Imbabura in the background, but there was no tree by the lake under which I could sit in peace. To make matters worse, there were many street dogs who could already smell the fried fish I was carrying and were following me around with wagging tails.

I snapped a few quick pictures and started walking back to the main road to catch a return bus to Otavalo. I wasn’t going to risk getting on a bus again with the fried fish so I ate as much as I could (there was a lot, as my plan was to sit under that tree the whole day) and the rest I threw to the dogs.

The San Pablo lake

Boat rides on the lake

The volcano Imbabura overlooking San Pablo

Always looking for a parada

Back at Otavalo, I opened up the map to look for a nearby town to travel to next. I settled on either Cayambe or Cotacachi, as both had some touristic appeal. I only had time to visit one of the two places but couldn’t decide which one to choose. I was surfing the internet at one of the internet centres close to the Otavalo bus station, and asked some friends who happened to be online at that time to choose one of the two places. I also asked the owner of the internet shop for his recommendation. The overwhelming winner was Cayembe, so in true Breakdown Gang style, 30 minutes later I was on a bus headed to Cotacachi.

The church at Cotacachi centro

The park at Cotacachi centro

At Cotacachi, all hostels were turning out to be too expensive. While randomly walking around, I saw a “gringo looking” blond guy, so I asked him if he spoke English. He turned out be an Argentinian who not only spoke English, but was also friendly and helpful. He told his Dad who was accompanying him that I was looking for a hostel, and his Dad went into a nearby shop to ask the locals. On returning, he gave me clear directions to the closest post office! The Dad had heard “postal” instead of “hostel”, and when he realised his mistake, we all had a good laugh. Though they hadn’t really provided me with any useful information, I thanked them for trying nevertheless and continued walking. The friendly owners of one the expensive hotels I checked out drew me a map showing where I could find a comfortable-yet-not-too-pricey place to stay. After checking in there, I kept my bags in my room and went out to explore the town.

Rainbow

Narrow streets of Cotacachi

By night

Cotacachi was very similar to Otavalo, like a mini-version of it; and I liked it just as much. After walking about for a bit, I found a “productos naturales” cafe which I thought would be a perfect place for dinner. But since it was too early for dinner and I didn’t want to walk anymore, I sat on a bench opposite the cafe and began to read. Soon I was lost in my book, and when I looked up, the cafe was closed :(

Sure is!

The volcano Cotacachi overlooking the town of Cotacachi