Weekend in Otavalo

Left: Lake Cuicocha. Right: Horseback riding through the country.

This weekend we had a group trip to Otavalo, the largest outdoor market in Ecuador and one of the oldest and most famous in South America. Most of our weekends here are free, but we have some scheduled trips to see things that we shouldn’t miss. And I am so glad we didn’t miss out on this area.

Friday afternoon we got out of class early and made the trip north, with a few stops along the way. The drive through the country was beautiful and the bathroom we stopped at even had stalls built for viewing the scenery. First we went to Lake Cuicocha, a volcano crater lake at 10,000’ elevation. There we had a motorboat tour and the guys went swimming. It wasn’t super cold (for the gringos at least) and it was really refreshing. Afterward we explored Cotacachi, the nearby town that specializes in leather goods. We walked through the stores on the main road and saw a crazy amount of leather merchandise (no underwear though, I asked). They even had cow’s feet that were hollowed out and molded into water bottles. After leather town we went to the wood town in nearby Ibarra. Later that evening we made it to the hostel, and the guys’ room turned out to be the love nest: all pinked out with bright pink walls and bedding.

With the suggestion of the hostel manager, a few of us woke up at 5:30 on Saturday and hit the animal market on the other side of town. We were bracing ourselves for a lot of killing and slaughtering, but there wasn’t any to be seen. Instead we saw lots of animals being paraded around a large field for all the locals to see. Most were under control with the exception of the occasional pig chased around by its frustrated owners. After this market, we wandered through the food market and clothing market, and eventually made it to the main market, which dates back to Spanish colonization in the 1600s. Here the indigenous were taught to make textiles for export to Europe, and the tradition has continued ever since.

This is where we learned to bargain, which I found to be really fun. As another hostel resident put it, bargaining is a competition between the local trying to rip you off and you trying to get a good deal. My first purchase was a $25 leather hat (Indiana Jones style) that I whittled down to $11. I also bought a lot of gifts and a couple of paintings for $13 and $19 (originally $17 and $25). The local artwork was amazing and I loved scoring on the deals. One thing we realized was that anytime we commented about something in Spanish, the vendors targeted us. We switched to English and everything became so much easier. We also realized that it was bad to ask for a price if we weren’t interested in something because that gave the vendors the right to pester us about it. I frequently had to try on sweaters just to prove to the vendors that they didn’t fit me.

Afterward we had breakfast at the hostel and decided to go horseback riding. The night before we saw a sign that advertised cheap tours through the area: $25 for a 3-4 hour tour and $35 for the full day. The hostel manager told us that they needed two hours to prepare the horses so we decided to hit the streets again and shop some more. For lunch we went to a famous pie shop and had deli sandwiches that were literally the size of our heads for less than three bucks. Ironically two of the people ordered a hot dog because they weren’t too hungry, but they ended up getting several wieners sandwiched between enormous pieces of bread. The pie afterward was incredible and I had a huge piece of papaya pie for just over a dollar.


Left: My horse, Negro. Middle: Josué and Thad. Right: Our guide.

The horseback tour was an awesome experience, and it was good to get out of the city. We went up through the mountains where we visited a small park on a hill and a waterfall. My horse, Negro, was good to me for the most part and never complained. But at one point we were going down a steep hill and he ran up to another horse and testosterone started to flare. Luckily I didn’t get thrown off, but I got pulled through a nice sticker bush. I had never ridden a horse before and after a rough four-hour introduction to saddle life, I was sore for the next few days.

Sunday morning was mostly spent traveling, but we went to an indigenous church before we left the area. That was an interesting experience, because the service was mainly in Quechua, a common indigenous language of Ecuador and Peru. The other half was in Spanish, but it was still the most lost I’ve ever been in a church service. It was really cool to see their style of worship and speaking though, and it really reminded me of Native American culture back in the states. Afterward the ladies invited us next door and gave us all homemade sweaters.

Well that’s the gist of the weekend, but I’ll add another blog post in the next few days to fill up some holes. I also started a new Facebook album too. Hasta luego!