MY SHOPPING EXTRAVGANZA AT THE OTAVALO MARKETS

WEATHER: Cooler and 23C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: SHOPPING

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Spending money…….

WORD OF THE DAY:  Barter, barter, barter

Nothing was on the cards today except shopping, shopping and more shopping.  It was a free day in Otavalo and breakfast was from 6.30am-10.30am.  The specialty of the house was pancakes with chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries and banana’s.  It was delicious.  Some of the guys wanted to go to the animal market first thing that finished at 10am so they hit the road for the 20 minute walk to see that.  Apparently if you have animal rights principles, then don’t go as livestock is not treated with tender loving care as it is not the highest priority on the day's agenda.  I decided to stay at the hostel and I got some diary entries done and I had bought 2 thank-you cards in Popayan for Mark and Gray.  I am a sentimental person at the best of times and to say good-bye to two people that I have spent every day with for the last 5 months and were an integral part of my trip, I bought them cards to put their tips in and a personal thank-you message.    

Otavalo is a largely indigenous town in the Imbabura Province of Ecuador. The town has about 90,000 inhabitants and is surrounded by the peaks of Imbabura 4,630m, Cotacachi 4,995m, and Mojanda volcanoes.  The indigenous Otavaleños are famous for weaving textiles, usually made of wool, which are sold at the famous Saturday market. Although the largest market is on Saturday, there is a very wide range of wares available throughout the week in the Plaza de los Ponchos, and the many local shops.

The Otavalo market consists of ninety mushroom-shaped concrete umbrellas with benches. The market was designed and built in 1970 by Dutch architect Tonny Zwollo. During the market's peak, almost one third of the town becomes full of stalls selling textiles, tagua nut jewelry, musical instruments, dream catchers, leather goods, fake shrunken heads, indigenous costumes, hand-painted platters and trays, purses, clothing, spices, raw foods, carved statues, picture frames, furniture and spools of wool.  The best day of the week to hit this famous and friendly corner of the Andes is Saturday, the biggest market day for gringos and locals alike.  The market is centered around 'Poncho Plaza'. All day long there is Andean pipe music and you can hear the locals talking Quichua, the native tongue derived from the Incan tongue.  A blinding maze of colored textiles spills from the square out across town.  As you stroll the streets you'll find everything from jumpers to armadillo shell guitars, wall hangings to ceramic fried eggs. We decided to attack the square in some form of order to make sure that we tried to see everything so we tried to not restrict ourselves to Poncho Plaza, as we guessed you’d probably get better bargains away from the main square. 

We started our shopping at 10am.  After stopping at one of the first stalls Sharon had already purchased a wool beanie and I was a few stalls down purchasing 2 small woven nags for my god-daughters and 2 small dolls.  We hadn’t even been there 10 minutes!  This was going to be a BIG shopping day.  We spent the next 3 hours wandering the stalls in some form of order.  There was colour and people everywhere, and a lot more local people than gringo’s from what I could see.  It was nice to be spending money that you didn’t need 5, 7 or 12 times tables to work out the cost of things.  So in the first round of shopping I had bought the 2 bags and 2 dolls for my GD’s, 2 painted pictures, 2 wooden statues, a new scarf, a beautiful silver ring, 3 beaded necklaces, 2 woven table runners, 2 woven belts and hand-made local cards.  Not a bad effort for 3 hours.  We needed to drop off our bags back to the hostel and then refuel for the afternoon’s second session.  Thank-goodness that the hostel was only a 5 minute walk down the road.  It started to rain just as we finished lunch, but after an initial downpour it only sprinkled for a few more minutes and then it was just cloudy for the rest of the afternoon.  Some of the stalls had packed up due to the rain, but there were still plenty of stalls to visit and we only had 2 hours to do it in as the markets start to close and pack up around 4pm. 

The markets are full of local Otavaleños.  They are still easily identified by their distinctive dress: women wear women traditionally wear distinctive white embroidered blouses, with flared lace sleeves, and black or dark over skirts, with cream or white under skirts. Their long hair is tied back with a 3 cm band of woven multi colored material, often matching the band which is wound several times round their waists. They usually have many strings of gold beads around their necks, and matching tightly wound long strings of coral beads around each wrist. The men have long, braided hair and wear calf-length white trousers, ponchos and sandals.  It is nice to be back in a country with National dress and culture so clearly evident.  My second round purchases included a beautiful hand woven rug, an alpaca lion (which is as cute as a button) a pair of silver earrings, 2 bags, 2 more beaded necklaces, 2 painted wooden jewellery boxes, a painted cross and another textile bag to put all my purchases in.  What a GREAT day and man it felt good to have some retail therapy.  I definitely will now have to send another box home.  I was thinking I could carry it all for the next 8 weeks, but by the time I pay for a second bag on the US airlines it will add up to what the postage will cost, so posting all my gear that I bought today it is. 

Once we were back at the hostel it was time to go through what we had bought, making a postage bag, going through what was left of my things and starting to airline pack again.  I had posted a box in Cartagena last week and with another box to post in Quito, all my stuff was looking okay to fit in their original bags.  AWESOME.   Shaz and I got ourselves into position as we worked, packed and threw away things we no longer needed in our little dog box of a room.  We couldn’t walk past each other without someone moving out of the way, the room was really a room filled with 2 beds and a chair and no room for anything else, but we got it done and it feels great that I have now moved all my stuff off Rosita and have it all packed.  With Sharon heading to Europe for the last 4 months of her trip and me heading to the USA there was no need to stock up on things and I have finally been able to leave my sleeping bag and my blow up travel pillow behind.  I bought the sleeping bag in London just before my Africa component on sale for 50GBP.  I think I have got my money’s worth out of that yellow and gray thing in the last 10 months.  I also got my washing back that I had dropped in this morning.  A whopping 4.80AUD for 3kg.  That certainly beats the 75AUD I paid in Caracas for around the same amount.  That was the biggest rip I have had nearly all trip. 

Dinner was a quick option at the local chicken take-away place.  We couldn’t be bothered with a proper sit down meal tonight.  It has started to rain again and the temperature had really dropped, so it was time to get into bed, even though it was only 8.30pm where we needed up on the intermittent internet and reading my book till a more respectable hour of 10pm when we turned off the light for the last time on tour in preparation for our last day in Rosita tomorrow.