my ramblings: Otavalo 26 June My walk to laguna de San Pablo

I set out after talking to the people at the hostel with a crappy little map to laguna de san pablo. It was to be a round about trip to see the cascsda de peguche and a couple of places. I had walked a ways and was confused as to where to go. I was a little village (I guess) and there was a guy there and I had a map and asked him how to get where I was going - pretty soon there was 3 guys trying to figure it out on the map. I then got out my map in the guide book and they finally decided that I should go up the stairs. At that point the one guy shows up with his bike and says that he will go with me and then ride his bike back -

We took off, him carrying his bike up the stairs and then walking it. Pretty soon we came to the falls, but you couldn't´t see them. We had to climb down this terribly steep hill covered with trees and brush. He carried his bike for about 25 feet down and left it there and we went down the rest of the way. All the way I am thinking how in the hell am I going to get back up. The falls were great, the water crystal clear and not all that cold. Suffice to say I made it back up - stopped once to rest and was breathing hard when I got to the top. Of course Luis (my guide) had to carry his bike up the last 25 feet -

After awhile we encountered some guys dressed in goofy costumes, some with instruments walking down the road. They poured soda out of a 2 liter bottle and gave it to me. They then wanted me to dance - maybe it was drink for dance - I would not dance, much to their disgust - Luis just laughed.

We walked the rest of the way to the laguna skipping the other 2 places to see. The scenery was awsome and well worth the walk - after we stopped at the Laguna Luis pointed me in the right direction to return to otavalo (by road as opposed to the dirt/stone road/track that we had taken) and he hopped on his bike and went home. We agreed to meet sat morning and are going to some other places to see. I plan on giving him a packer hat (I brought 4 new ones to give as gifts), its not much but its all I have.

The walk back to Otavalo was flat (till the hill down at the end) and very scenic.

The dogs in towns here are not a problem but somewhat aggressive in the country - I think I will carry halt on my next walk.

I met my twin brother yesterday - will write about that later.