Around town

Down the street from where we live, there is a small, run-down park. It has a few swings with the seats broken off, some teeter-totters with the seats broken off, and a couple of slides with a bum-shattering incline. Here the kids are perched under the slide, enjoying an orange soda and imagining something exotic, I am sure. It was also sunny and very hot that day, and they were all trying to escape the sun. Something crazy about how high we are (8500 ft) is that, when the sun is out, it is burning hot. Once you are in the shade, however, the temperature probably drops 15 degrees instantly. 
















Here the kids are posing (well, except for Bentz) on a bridge into town. This small stream that flows alongside Otavalo is no ordinary stream. It changes color everyday. We are told that somewhere upstream is some kind of factory that makes clothing, and the some of the die used is emptied into the stream. So sad. Also note the palm tree in the background. Yes, palm trees grow at 8500 ft above sea level.




Here is another really cool shot of Imbabura, the father (or taita) volcano of the valley. Cotacachi is known as the mother volcano. It is quite common to have levels of clouds, perched on the mountainsides or hiding in the ravines like little puffs of cotton.















Here I am with our good friend, Santiago Andrade. He and his family have been amazingly kind and generous to our family during our stay here. We met them the first day at church, when he came up and told us he was a lawyer as well. Here is is helping us buy a truck. It has been an immense help to have a vehicle here, and has allowed us to visit much more of the country than we otherwise would have (sanely) been able to. I have grown accostomed to driving like a local and hope that I can revert to legal driving practices when I return to the US.