Day three: Otovalo-- August 24

After staying in a local hotel we continued our Otovalian adventure. We went to El Lago de las Diosas which is a high altitude volcanic crater lake. Near the shore, you can see little gas bubbles coming up which keeps the lake nice and warm. We took a little boat ride on it and even passed through El Canal de Deseos. After that, we got some time to go shopping at El Plaza de Ponchos where there are lots of artisans and many textiles made from llama and alp
aca.

After shopping, we went to another little home in which a 90-year-old woman did a traditional cleansing ritual on one of our group members. This involved her making a sort of flame thrower by spitting vodka by a candle, spitting vodka, cane water, and oil onto the participant, and saying prayers that mixed Catholicism and native religion. To say the least, that part of this experience was a lot... But yay culture I guess!