Our Trip to Ibarra

Last Tuesday Sheiran and I decided to head to Ibarra to check out a few things we needed/wanted to see at the mall where the Supermaxi is housed.  You can't live in Cotacachi more than a few days without hearing about Supermaxi and how that's where you can find lots of good groceries you won't find locally.  You may recall that I went to Ibarra with the tour group about a month ago but I didn't get a chance to stop at the mall and this was a perfect chance to do that.

It seemed like July 4th was a good day to post this in recognition of the independence not only of the United States but the independence of shopping at a mall.

The little Cotacachi bus terminal is very well cared for and very nice.  There's plenty of covered room for waiting which, this morning, was good because it decided to rain.  Sheiran was good enough to pose for me.

It's a little hard to see but I love the little curtains in the front windows of our bus.  Since this was a short trip we didn't get a movie but the TV is there just in case we were heading a lot further than Ibarra.

Here's the outdoor part of the mall taken from the food court.  I'm beginning to think there is now a rule that says a mall must have a food court to be considered a legitimate mall.

At one edge of the food court is a video arcade--you have to go past all the food stands to get there.  Just like casinos--you have to walk past all the gambling to get to the cheap food.

It's a respectable food court with lots of choices.

Ah, be still my heart--Chinese!  It turned out that the grilled pork chop Sheiran got at another of the stands was WAY more fabulous than my choice but there will always be another trip there and another chance to eat an amazing pork chop--tender, grilled, beautifully seasoned--I might have to go back there sooner rather than later.

A Home Depot-style hardware store with real light fixtures.  Most places here have bare bulbs in the plain ceiling fixtures.

If you look closely you'll see the familiar Hallmark sign straight ahead.

This is where I made my mistake.  I loved this store and the products they carried.  I probably wouldn't have used it because it didn't turn out all that great but I have to have it to talk about the mistake.  I'll get to that in just a bit.

I swiveled an took a shot down the hall that had the Supermaxi store at the end of it--again, wouldn't have used it because it's so dark.

One more swivel and a few steps and I was at the doorway that led to the outdoor part of the mall and got this one,

...then turned a little more to get the Payless Shoe Source store across the parking lot--too shady under the overhang.  Just then a very polite security guard came up to me and, in rapid Spanish, rattled off something that included the words, "No foto.....commercial....no.....no posible."  OK, my Spanish is lousy but even I could figure out that I wasn't allowed to take photos in a commercial location.  I knew when I was busted because the fellow sitting at the cash register in that store where I first started this part of the story turned around after I snapped the second photo and I saw him reach for something (I'm guessing the phone) as I moved to take the picture of the rest of the mall.  Darn!  Oh well, about the only thing I didn't get were some interior shots of Supermaxi which really is as nice as I've heard and they have some lovely things I might just have to get when I'm in need, like the celery I'm used to getting in the States as opposed to what I get at the market that is all leaf and almost no stalk.

I got just a tad rebellious and as the taxi we were taking back to the bus terminal was pulling out I grabbed a couple of shots of the KFC.  I guess it's nice that there are familiar names and places for some expats and I'm sure the locals are pleased as well or they wouldn't be thriving the way they appear to be but I was even a tiny bit tempted to eat lunch at KFC--now the Chinese place was a different story but I won't be doing that again for quite some time.

We got back to the bus in mid-afternoon with a few purchases and headed back home.  It was a nice way to spend the middle of the day and one I'll be doing again in the not-so-distant future.