After breakfast at the Dona Esther, we took a taxi ($4) up the hill northeast of town to the Parque Condor, a bird sanctuary where they rehabilitate wounded condors, eagles, hawks, falcons and owls. It's only $4.50 each to enter. There are numerous big cages and beautiful gardens to walk through to see all the birds mentioned above. We were sure to get there by 10:30 am so we would have an hour to walk around before the show at 11:30.
The Parque Condor has a small stone amphitheater overlooking the Otavalo valley. A bird handler with a big leather glove and a leather bag of food, including dead chicks, brought out hawks, falcons, owls and finally a bald eagle that he let loose to soar over the valley until he called them back by holding up a dead chick for them to eat. The whole demonstration was in Spanish but fortunately we had been talking with a Dutch guy and his girlfriend, originally from Ecuador, at the park earlier. The woman spoke fluent Spanish, of course, and translated for us throughout the show. This show was a highlight of our trip so far.
After the show, we walked down the hill back to town, past Laguna San Pablo, a medium sized lake that we could see in the distance. It took us about 70 minutes to walk back to our hotel down a dirt and cobblestone road past the farmers' fields. We each carried a stick in case of stray dogs (a trick learned in southeast Asia) but the few dogs we saw were very docile.
After we re-grouped in our hotel, we walked up to the Shenandoah Pie Shop near the Plaza de Ponchos for a huge piece of blueberry pie and ice cream. It was $4 each but well worth it. After another hour of relaxing in the main square and a couple of beers in our room, we ate in the restaurant in our hotel. Again, for $20 all in we had Pollo Pintado (chicken in chocolate sauce) and Chuleta a la Cranberry (pork chop in cranberry sauce). Both were excellent. Chicken in chocolate sauce might sound strange but it was actually great, tangy not sweet. Since it was a cool night we took a table right in front of the wood-fired pizza oven and enjoyed the cosy ambience while we chatted with an American couple and their daughter as well as another older woman staying in the hotel. It seems that there has recently been a big international Jehovah's Witness conference in Quito, so this woman and her friend are part of a large number of Jehovah's Witnesses floating around the tourist areas in the vicinity. Luckily no-one seems to have brought pamphlets so there was no reason for Anita's sisters Lori and Lisa to call and warn us like they do at home.
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