Day 9: Cotacachi

After the bizarre foul-up at the Ecuador border yesterday, we decided not to return back to the border to be entered into the computer until after breakfast, thereby hopefully allowing time for their computers to be fixed. As we wandered around Tulcán, we took a photo of this mass of wires - what a way to spoil a window view!

Yikes!

There were a lot of indigenous folks dressed in their traditional outfits with the women wrapping their babies or young ones onto their backs. It still surprises me when I see how short in stature they are.

Full-grown adult indigenous women standing by a teenager

Thankfully when we arrived back at the border crossing, all the computers were up and running and the line-up was very short. We were quickly entered into the computers and had permission to pass.

As we travelled along the highway, Jordan notice an adventure motorcyclist stopped on the side of the road. He was riding a KLR 650, like our bike back home. So we stopped to say hello. He was a young man, alone, from Brazil travelling Colombia and Ecuador. He showed us photos of serious flooding that he came through in Colombia. We exchanged our boat card with his business card and his invitation to visit him in a few years when we sail past his home port.

We came to a fairly small town called Cotacachi early in the day but decided to stay. We found a Bed & Breakfast hotel with laundry service. We were told that there are no public clothes dryers in Cotacachi - just line drying. But we decided to take a chance that our clothes would be dry by morning.

While walking around town, we saw leather stores everywhere. We never noticed any locals wearing leather coats or jackets, and only a few carrying leather purses or wearing leather footwear, so their tourist trade and imports must be very high. Cotacachi is also a hangout for expats and intrepid travellers.

It's still been fairly cold at 2,400 m elevation. We travelled 165 km today from the border to Cotacachi.