Days passed by while we just hung out in Otavalo, waiting to see what would happen with Jeff. His symptoms seem to wax and wane but as long as he keeps taking acetaminophen and the antibiotic, he definitely feels better, though not cured. At least he can get out of bed - AND go for short walks.
Heading off to Uruguay has become out of the question. We were SO close to immediately returning to the USA just to get decent medical care. Now, before doing anything big, we have to make sure he's really on the mend. Taking another major plane trip wouldn't be a good idea right now. That means cancelling our flight. But that's okay.
So one day he woke up with some energy and decided he wanted to head off to Colombia. That just means relatively short bus trips which he felt he could handle - plus he got really bored sitting still in Otavalo. So north it was.
From the bus window, Colombia looked so much more interesting than Ecuador: cleaner, more colorful, much better maintained, homes showing love and pride, people more open.
We landed in Pasto, Colombia an a rockin' Saturday night. Dang, that's a place to avoid. Just a city out of control: bright lights, speeding cars swerving in and out, loud music from all sides, lots of people in the streets talking loudly. The taxi driver made it clear that he didn't trust a single person he saw, calling them "ratones, todos son ratones." (Rats, they're all rats.) "Guard your money, keep it under your shirt, hang onto your suitcases, don't trust anyone", were his parting words.
This seemed like a bit of a warning. Jeff was feeling pretty good, thank God. I backed into a storefront with the suitcases, Jeff went into the street to begin TRYING to flag down a taxi. Finally he caught an empty one that knew of a hotel on the outskirts of town.
Taxistas are truly our best guardian angels. Time after time these men have saved us.
We got our wish: a miniature sweet hotel with a locked front door: the clerk has to unlock it from the inside to let people in AND to let people out. They seem to feel a bit insecure around that pueblo -and if THEY are that scared, we're a bit nervous too.
