Otavalo Market

I’ve got this beautiful apartment with lots of white walls. So what’s a girl to do? Go to Otavalo, the largest indigenous crafts market in Ecuador (and some say the largest in S. America!). I braved the Saturday crowds and took the two hour bus ride, listening to Cumbia music the whole way. The town of Otavalo is nestled high up in the Andes, surrounded by hills of various greens and browns. Plus, you can see several of the snow covered volcanoes. It’s really easy to get overwhelmed at Otavalo. There are stalls upon stalls of brightly colored tapestries, scarves, ponchos, jewelry, art, carvings, and any other craft you could possibly want. But what I like about it is the indigenous vendors are not too pushy. They let you peruse the stalls and always are wanting to strike up conversations. The Otavalo indigious group is the most successful in all of Ecuador. The reason is, they are crafts people. Plus, their culture is not being destroyed because it depends on tourism. Tourists are less likely to buy from a person dressed in western style clothing than a woman with her golden beads, embroidered blouse, navy blue wrap skirt speaking a mix of Quichua and Spanish. Many Otavaleños have visas to the US, Canada and Europe where they sell their high quality crafts. It’s really amazing how successful this group is and I was glad to support them. Yesterday, I left with a lavender and red weaving, a brightly colored pillow case, and lots of artwork for the walls (and some fresh mango, yum J)

Also, the apartment is coming along nicely. I am really happy with it. Even though I am smack dab in a huge urban city, I wake up to birds singing. I don’t hear too much traffic noise and there are no street lights shining in my windows. (For those of you who know me well, you’ll know I’ve had sleep problems for awhile. Here, I am sleeping like a baby, thank goodness!) I wake up feeling refreshed in the cool dry mountain air of the morning.

I attended a huge wedding this weekend…more about this later once I can put captions with photos.