Ecuador - Otavalo and Quito

So we made it across the border into Ecuador a few days ago.  The bus was stopped and Brian's bag was searched but apart from that we had little hassle.  First stop in Ecuador was Otavalo, a small town famous for it's craft market.

Otavalo...  That's a volcano in the background.  Seems like every mountain is actually a volcano around here and nearly every town has been destroyed by an earthquake or landslide or volcano at some stage. A lot of the older people still wear traditional dress in Otavalo.

Next we got back on the bus and came to Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, passing through the equator on the way.  We're staying in the old part of the city and it's fairly pleasant to walk around but not really loads to see.  Has fairly extreme weather too, roasting one minute and freezing an hour later, we're up up pretty high now here. 

Have seen a good few people walking around selling laces like this...

Went to the Mercardo Central to have some lunch, was a great place with loads of stalls selling all kinds of food.  This is an Ecuadorian dish called locro de papa, which is a potato soup served with avocado, spicy salsa and red onion and tomato salad.

Some of the other stalls...

More city photos...and chicken head soup...

The view from the top of our hostel was fantastic, especially at night...

Tonight we're getting an overnight bus to Lago Agrio, an oil town in the east of Ecuador, to start a four day trip into the Amazon basin first thing in the morning!  Very excited.