Lawrence, if you’re thinking about one of these as a place to live, my opinion is only that — my opinion. Yours is what matters. I live in Cotacachi and I love it there. It’s a small, quiet, walkable town. Otavalo is about twice as big. As Ecuador’s 2nd-largest tourist destination, it gets its fair share of tourists. It offers a bit more in terms of shopping and medical services. (But for anything serious, you’d go to Ibarra or Quito.) Water, electricity, phone, internet, DirectV are all equally available in both Otavalo and Cotacachi. It really depends on if you are looking for small village life or larger medium-size city life. You’ll find more expats in Cotacachi for what that’s worth…
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