About 10,000 people descend on Otavalo every Saturday from miles around. It is possibly the biggest indigenous market in South America. I had come quite a long way to see this too, on a long hard road full of pot-holes that none of the bus drivers seemed to notice, if you know what I mean. It's hard to believe that it was the same Panamericana Highway that I followed smoothly through Chile and Peru. The traffic looks very different here too, with many colourful cross-border trucks that remind me of Asia.

I made a couple of stops along the way from Bogotá, firstly at Popayán with its brilliant white colonial buildings, and secondly at the border town of Ipiales to pay a visit to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Los Lajas - an impressive structure that spans a canyon. My guide on a day hike up Fuya Fuya volcano told me that his grandparents used to take a whole week to walk there on a pilgrimage from Otavalo. It must have been a scenic hike, as I am now surrounded by beautiful countryside and six volcanoes. The town too is very attractive with several well-kept plazas that are awash with coloured lighting in the evenings and paraded by pony-tailed locals in the daytime.

Speaking of night-time, the town is also famous for its peñas - bars where local music is played until the early hours, with much drinking and dancing. I was fortunate to find an excellent one with a five-piece band who had two pan-flute players, one doubling as a violinist. Wonderful!

I mentioned San Agustín in my last post, but I regrettably decided to skip it when I found out that only night buses were going that way. Half my reason for going there was for the scenery along the way, and if I found the main highway bumpy, it would have been much worse on that route.

Posted from Quito, 21st May 2012