Saturday, June 14th, 2003 – Day 116
I got to the town around 5.40am after taking the 4.00am bus from Quito. The guide books say the journey takes 2.5 hours, but with the road and lack of traffic we got there early. It was raining all of the trip and I thought the market would be a wash out. As it was still dark and the bus left me out on the Pan American highway (and not the bus terminal, I decided to get a one dollar taxi to my chosen hostel called “Hostal Ally” at Salinas y Boliver (esq). It was only five dollars for a private room (without private bath overlooking Sucre street less than a minutes walk to the main plaza. Rooms with balcony and private bath were seven dollars.
As it was nearing 6.00am I decided to go directly to the mart. Early in the morning on Saturday, there is an animal market, where you can exchange your cow for a llama or simply buy a dozen chickadees. To get to the animal market from the main plaza, walk down Sucre or Bolívar to Morales. Take a right on Morales and walk straight for about 5 blocks and cross over the bridge. Turn right after the bridge and then take a left at the next main street. The animal market is about half a block up. Alot of business was been done and a lot of money was changing hands. I stayed there for about an hour looking at the proceedings. The mart was very similar to that of Puck Fair, in Killorglin, Ireland.
The main reason I rushed from Quito to here was Otovalo Market . The market at Otavalo presents some of the best bargains in Ecuador and, just as important, some of the best people-watching. On Saturday, the city becomes one big shopping area. It’s not just for tourists; Ecuadorians come here too, from miles away, to peddle and buy high-quality handmade goods. Spent a few hours wandering round the stalls and bought a few wool sweaters for five dollars and handmade alpaca sweaters for 6 Dollars. Other things which can be bought include soft alpaca scarves, wool fedoras, colorful straw bags, hand-embroidered blouses, ceramics, tapestries, fresh pineapple, and llamas.
I also checked out Runa Tupari Native Travel which offer walking tours at reasonable prices. I just dont have the time at the moment so skipped on the idea, but the scenery around here is beautiful. I also walked to the
excellent fresh produce market in Plaza 24 de Mayo which had roast pigs, sheeps heads and all sorts.
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Otavalo – Ecuador – The mart is about 1km from the town centre. It gets going around 6.00am and dies out around 8.00am. (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador – Mart – As you can see people wear attractive traditional clothes. (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador – The mart (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador – Girls wearing traditioanl clothes at the market. (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador – The market. There was a full pig here at 8.00am but only the head reamined by 1.00pm (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador – Fresh produce market in Plaza 24 de Mayo . (14-06-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Otavalo – Ecuador (14-06-2003)
There is a cockfight at 3.00pm which I missed by accidently forgetting. Anyway the markets were interesting and the day passed quickly. As I had been up since 3.00am the previous day, I had a pretty early night at 11.00pm after a quick dinner.