Imbabura is a tourist province where people are very friendly, its gastronomy and culture make this province of Ecuador selected by many tourists from all over the world. Its artisans operate clay, stone, wood, wool and they are recognized for their skill in crafts.
After my visit to Ipiales, I went to the city of Ibarra, It is known as the white city due to its houses painted in this color, its cobbled streets and its colonial architecture, this city takes you back in time.
It is time to go to Otavalo because it is the first point of this route, and after 45 minutes by bus I arrived at this town, Otavalo is a very commercial city where you can find everything, I returned to this town after a couple of years and it continues growing up, I observed a lot of stores in its streets, it is gratifying to observe the majority of its inhabitants with their native costumes and the beautiful embroidery that their women have on their clothing.
In this city I went to the Peguche waterfall, if you take a taxi it has worth $ 3, It is just 10 minutes from Otavalo you will reach this beautiful place that deserves to be visited. When you enter this place you will give a collaboration for admission, after that you can start the walk. If you want to know more you can read http://www.lahuecatrips.com/en/otavalo-a-city-of-colors/
Once I returned from the waterfall to the center of Otavalo, I walked through its streets so I decided to go to a cafe in front of the park, I drank a craft beer called Fortaleza, It is a great beer with a great taste, you have to enjoy Otavalo and toast for its charms that this beautiful city has.
Otavalo surprised me and I decided to look for a place to eat, it is a quick visit so I decided to have lunch at Mi Otavalito, a restaurant with typical Ecuadorian food, this place has been visited by many national and foreign tourists. This place is not so cheap for lunch but it’s actually worth paying $ 8 for this great lunch. It includes an appetizer, soup, rice with its companion, juice and dessert. Mi Otavalito is a place that deserves to be visited.
Cotacachi, leather articles and red meat.
Cotacachi is a city very close to Otavalo, just 30 minutes by bus and if you go by car, it is 15 minutes. Cotacachi is characterized by its articles made from leather, you can find all kinds of articles made from this material at a very good price.
At that moment, I Iooked for the typical dish of Cotacachi which is called carnes colorodas, it is the meat of pork that has a reddish color due to the adobe made based on achiote (a typical plant that gives color to food). This dish must be accompanied by Chicha de Jora, a typical drink of this place. If you want to taste these typical dishes you have to go to the Cotacachi market that is in the terminal of buses of the city.
The place I choose to eat this typical food is Carnes Coloradas Rosita, it is really one of the best places where I have eaten on this trip, the dish of red meat is $ 2.50, it was a very good price and the best that it was delicious, when you decide to travel to Cotacachi you must go to the restaurant of Rosita.
Atuntaqui.
My last stop of these three towns that are very close to Ibarra, If you want to go by bus from town to town has a cost of $ 0.35 ctvs. It was approximately 20 minutes and the bus left me on the Panamericana road and I began to walk to the center of the city.
Atuntaqui surprised me for its Textile industry, it is one of the best places to buy clothes, I definitely found very good quality products at very good prices, you can haggle and we above all support domestic production. If you want to visit a place with very good quality clothes, this is the place. As a recommendation, you should wear comfortable walking shoes, a cap, sunscreen, glasses and money because you will not want to leave without something of these incredible places that Ecuador has.
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