Purplelake: Day 14 - Aug 6, 2018 Cochasqui & Otavalo, Ecuador

Since we had an early flight to Quito this morning, our hotel was so accommodating that they decided to open the breakfast for us at 6:00a. As soon as we went up to the breakfast balcony, we were greeted by our fellow Canadian travelers whom we met yesterday morning! They waved us over and introduced their new friend Walley to us who is another fellow Canadian. We soon found out that Walley is one of the thousands of fable expats who have decided to uproot themselves and retired to Cuenca! He had been living here in Cuenca for two years now and would not trade it for anywhere else! So everything we read is true that the Ecuadorian government would welcome any expat retiree who has at least $1000 USD pension income. The health care system in Ecuador is great and very affordable, even the private health plan. Living accommodation is also very affordable. Walter lived in the long term residence next door (run by the same hotel) and paid $650 USD per month. He said you can rent a local apartment for just $300 USD per month! He owned two motorcycles and used them for his commute or adventures to other countries or cities in South America. Here is a living example of someone who is brave enough to uproot himself and moves to another country even without a complete mastering of the language (he is still taking Spanish classes now). I really really have deep respect for him and just admire his courage.

Our flight to Quite is a very short 35 min. The airline TAME is probably one of the most no frill airlines we have flown so far. The seats were so crammed together that it would put Air Transat to shame! It probably has the narrowest legroom that I have seen and I could barely sit down without touching the seat in front. There was absolutely no snack or water offered. We picked up a rental car from Quito airport and started driving to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) about 30 mins from Quito airport. There are two different Mitad del Mundo places in Ecuador. The more established and famous one is actually a fraud. When the French did the survey to find the location of the equator in Quito, they made a small error and were off by 250m from the true equator. The smaller Museo Intinan is where the actual equator lies. It was quiet when we arrived late morning and the guide showed us a few tricks about equator. We learnt that on the equator, water does not drain with a spiral pattern. Rather, it just drains straight down. To the north just by a few meters, you can see water draining in anti-clockwise spiral while the opposite is true for water draining to the south of the equator (clockwise spirals). Also, of the 13 countries that the equator passes through, Ecuador is the highest. This makes it the highest place on Earth (since the Earth has a bulge in the equator). That means it is closest to the Sun and having the fastest spinning velocity (highest centrifugal force)! The guide claimed due to the strong centrifugal force here, it is way easier to stand a fresh egg on its head on a nail here at the equator than anywhere else on Earth. The whole group took up the challenge and tried the experiment. To our amazement, 5 out of the 6 peoples in our group were able to complete this feat and obtained a Master Certificate for this amazing accomplishment, yours truly and Yi included! The last demo was the difficulty in walking on a straight line along the equator blindfolded. The claim is that due to the force balance at the equator, it is easier to stumble and lose balance when walking along the equator line than anywhere else on earth. Another trivia is that since Equator is spinning the fastest on Earth, all hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, etc. originate from Equator and move either North or South. As the air spinning movements are opposite each other in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, these storms would cancel out and destroy themselves if they cross the Equator. This explains why there is no tropical storm in Ecuador or any place along Equator. This is truly a fun place to see all the demonstrations, including one that highlights the history of chocolate and how cacao becomes chocolate.

Volcan Cotopaxi from the air

Look! The egg is standing on its own!

I can graduate now that I have mastered the technique of egg standing

It looks easy but it's really tough to balance yourself on the equator line!

Our next stop is Cochasqui where they discovered the most important Pre-Inca civilization. Up on highland plateau northeast of Quito at an altitude of over 3000m, the Cara culture flourished from 950 AD and they had built 15 pyramids (some as high as 20m with 200m long ramps). The view from the pyramids down to the valley below is incredible. You can see all the way to Quito on a good day with all the volcanoes in the skyline! These pyramids were all built with a soft volcanic rock. If it's not for the grass overgrowing on top of them, they could have disappeared now. One of the most colorful chapters in Inca history happened right here in Cochasqui. The Inca for two years could not overcome the people at Cochasqui and when they finally conquered it at 1500 AD, the Inca emperor, Huayna Capac, married the local Queen Quilago (most likely by force). Their offspring is believed to be future emperor Atahualpa. Queen Quilago did not submit so easily and plotted a bedroom murder of her husband but was betrayed by her servants. She was executed and ended this chapter of royal intrigue. We learnt of this part of Inca history when we first visited Cusco in Peru four year ago and we really felt the connection here standing on grounds where it all happened.

Google Map, for some reasons, kept directing us using small backroads to and from this site. These roads are very scenic going down steep mountain sides but they are also narrow, winding, and TWO-WAYS while they are barely enough for one car! Most incredibly, there were big trucks and buses rumbling up and down these roads as well! We later found out that there was a spic and span brand new road that could have saved us more time and less white hairs!

A model of the site and the pyramids

The pyramids are made of very soft volcanic rocks which can be eroded easily

The highway to Otavalo had many twists and turns through many small towns but it is extremely scenic. The 5770m high Volcan Cayambe looms over the highway to the east. The town of Otavalo is nested under the 4700m high volcano Cerro Imbabura on the western shore of the largest lake in Ecuador, Lago San Pablo. Our B&B is located just outside the town on the eastern shore of this lake and we had a beautiful sunset over the lake right outside our window. Our host Luis had been in hospitality industry all his working career and he now came back to his home town Otavalo to open his B&B. His wife cooked a wonderful dinner for us.