Crossing the Colombian/Ecuadorian border

IPIALES ONTO TULCÁN

After 22 hours in a bus ride that took us up mountains, down mountains, around mountains, and into valleys, we finally reached Ipiales, a town that sits a mere 10 minute drive from the Ecuadorian border. During our long trek down Colombia the bus stopped only once in the middle of the day on Sunday so that we could eat lunch. Otherwise it was straight driving from 11pm Saturday night to 8pm Sunday night. The bus ride went from being really really cold at night after the sun set, to really really hot during the day when there was no cloud cover. Because I live in high-altitude Bogotá, sometimes I forget just how close to the equator I live until I enter into the valleys where it is SUPER HOT.
So we were in Ipiales and we trekked over to a super cool cathedral located in a valley over a river, attended Mass, and took a lot of pictures. Above is a picture of the santuary. Many faithful people from around Colombia make pilgrimages to this cathedral, and along the way down into the valley the walls of stone are filled with plaques thanking the virgin for all of the miracles that have happened in her name.

NOW IN ECUADOR

Now we are in Ecuador, in a town called Otavalo about 3 hours from the Colombian border. Although Spanish is spoken in this town, one of the main languages is Quichua, which is an indigenous tongue. People can still be seen walking the streets in traditional clothing, carrying their children or large packs on their backs. Most of these people are fairly short, probably no more than 4ft6in-5ft tall. In the center of the city every day there is a large market where one can buy everything from hand-made sweaters to hand-carved chess sets.

DOLLARS IN ECUADOR

In Ecuador they use the US dollar because it is much more stable than the previous currency, sucres, however the prices are obnoxiously lower than the prices in the US. For example, a 2-hour bus ride from Otavalo to Quito costs only $2, whereas a 2.5-hour bus ride from Minneapolis to Duluth would cost at least $30. A crunch bar in the US costs about $.75 and in Ecuador $.20. Even using this computer in this internet café is only costing me $.01/min. The bills used here are exactly the same as the ones used in the US, but they mint almost all of their own coins. The sackagewea dollar coin is circulated here, but then they have their own 50cent coins, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies with their own images.

CALLY´S BIRTHDAY
Today is Cally´s 25th birthday, by the way. What a way to spend it!!

Tomorrow we head to Quito, about a 2-hour bus ride from here. On the way we will pass ¨la mitad del mundo¨ or the middle of the world (I´m crossing the equator tomorrow).