My Mum is The Best!!!!

No doubt about it!!!! I´m not going to go into detail of the last three days but I am going to say - Couldn´t be doing this without you Mum.
Have had countless problems trying to get money out....To the point where my debit card was just not accepted at any ATM, my bank here was not able to help at all, therefore leaving me almost penniless.
One call to Mum, and everything was solved. Mum, I love you, You are the best. Muchas Gracias. Te Quiero Muchissimo!!!!

As mentioned previously, I decided to leave Quito on Friday as it was Easter weekend and most things were closed...However I did not leave without going into the centre of town Friday morning to watch the procession of countless Christs, bearing their cross. It is a tradition every Easter Friday and different churches, (and there are plenty of those!) hold their processions at different times of the day.
Imagine a wall of people lining the street on either side, and literally dozen upon dozen men dressed up as Jesus Christ, (crown of thorns, blood and all) carrying big wooden crosses....They are followed by Cucurachos - Men dressed with a purple hood and robe....KKK style only in purple. Some are whipping themselves... It´s quite the scene. And the whole town is out to see it! It´s a mixture of fun, and prayer.

Before leaving Quito for Otavalo, that afternoon, I thought I´d get some money out as Id be roaming around a market...And here´s where the fun starts...ATM won´t accept my card - It´s actual message was: You have asked for an amount above your accepted withdrawing limit.
´No I´m not!´
No problem, I´ve got a travellers cheque I can get it changed once there.

How can I describe Otavalo on a Saturday other than a myriad of colours and sounds under an Andean sun! It was just awesome...To give you a better idea of the size of the market, imagine your entire suburb, as in every street, aligned with stalls, and jam packed with locals and tourists all haggling. It´s not just for the tourists either, (although it is directed at us,) the locals buy their fruit and veg there too. I think I spent over 5 hours just walking and observing.

Now to the travellers cheque...I won´t bore you too much with that one other than to say that it was super difficult to find a place and it involved asking and answering questions from men wearing flak jackets and holding big f%&k off guns....And having to, as sweetly as possible of course, decline their offer of taking you to see the beautiful nearby lakes in their new jeep.

On Sunday, with my newfound money, I zipped to the middle of the world - yep! I can honestly say that I´ve had both feet on different sides of the equator at the same time! Woohoo!!
I went to the museum situated on the equator and it was incredible to see how even a few metres from the equator line how centrifugaral forces are affected....In the north water drains anti-clockwise, and in the south clockwise...There you go for you trivia buffs! AND did you know that you weigh less on the equator line because the forces of gravity are less....No wonder I spent the whole day there...I was floating!