We have only been to Cotacachi!

We were sitting in our favorite banana split shop, the 4 of us enjoying the marvelous concoctions of fresh banana’s, handmade Blackberry, Pineapple, and Mango sobet, topped with rich whipped cream, when 3 other folks entered the shop and sat down at the table next to us.

Are you from America? The question coming from the oldest of the 3 that just entered the shop, we smiled and told them that we were. Explained where Oregon is on a map of the U.S., and asked about their work.

They were engineers from Quito in town to work on a local church. The older gentleman spoke decent English (certainly better than my Spanish), and the young woman and young man he was with appeared to understand some of what was being said as they smiled and added to the conversation by commenting to the older man.

Cotacachi Ecuador Wisdom

We spoke for 10 or 15 minutes when they asked us where else in Ecuador we had been besides Cotacachi. Both Gina and I smile…we had heard this question before and new where it was headed.

We have not been anywhere else we answered. We’ve spent a couple of nights in Quito, some time in Otavalo, and we buy groceries in Ibarra…but otherwise we have spent 99% of our time in Cotacachi. As expected our answer was met with quizzical looks, an exchange of comments to each other, and the obligatory confirming question “you have not been anywhere else?”

Leather Street - Cotacachi Ecuador

We have met a half dozen Ecuadorians that are from other parts of Ecuador, usually Quito, that have asked us this same question. When we give them our answer they don’t understand, yet when we ask them why they moved to Cotacachi they give us the same answer.

I am still not sure why we get that response. Why would Americans want to spend time in a small town in the Andes? Why would we want to spend time in Cotacachi instead of Quito? Why have we not traveled to the Amazon, the beaches along the Pacific Coast, or the other towns and cities on the tourist route?

We expect we will see all of these and more, in due time. But for now Cotacachi offers everything that we need, a low cost of living, a peaceful town, beautiful scenery, and a chance for us to simply enjoy our lives.

Imbabura Volcano, Ecuador

We finished our banana splits and were about to leave when the older gentleman came over to our table with a pen and napkin in his hand. He spent the next 10 minutes drawing a map of Ecuador, with the very precise hand of an engineer, highlighting all of the places we should see in Ecuador.

We thanked him, said our goodbyes, stuck the napkin map in our pockets…and headed out into the evening air. Happy to to have made new friends, happy to have enjoyed the wonderful banana splits, and happy to walk the streets of our favorite town in Ecuador…Cotacachi.