Otavalo, Cotacachi and Cuicocha

In 1736 a French science expedition (La Condamine, Bouguer and Godin) came to the Quito area. They measured a long north-south line (an arc of the meridian) to settle a debate about the shape of the Earth. The country's name, "Ecuador", was chosen in 1830 because of that expedition.

Quitsato is a sundial 54 m across. Modern GPS measurement shows that it is less than a millimeter from the true Equator. The name comes from two words in the local language and means "middle of the world".

Even before the Inca conquest, in the 15th century, the people of the Otavalo valley had the trading title "mindalaes". It means traders who travel long distances.

Textile stalls sell ponchos, rugs and fabrics in natural colors. Red and pink come from the cochineal insect, orange and yellow from achiote seeds, and brown from walnut shells. People traded in this square long before the Spanish came.

A small town about 10 km from Otavalo, known as the leather capital of Ecuador. The shops stand along the main street, Calle 10 de Agosto.

The leather business grew from the area's farming past. For generations the land was used to feed animals and for dairy farms. Families cut, sew and design the goods in their own workshops. But much of the raw leather arrives already prepared from other places.

A caldera, a huge crater about 3 km across. It formed when the ground fell in after an eruption on the southern edge of Cotacachi volcano, about 3,100 years ago.

The two islands in the middle are not pieces of the old volcano. They are domes of lava that grew up from below after the ground fell in. Their shape gave the lake its name: Cuicocha means "guinea pig lake" in Kichwa.

The lake is about 150 m deep, and no water flows out of it. Bubbles of carbon dioxide still rise into it from the volcanic system below.