Otavalo

---

we are now in Otavalo, which is famous for its massive saturday market, and attracts alot of tourists to one of the market squares, where they sell crafts. we spent the night in another great hostel, but i forget the name. this morning we walked the circumfrence of the city, which only took a couple hours, but took us through all the poorer, more interesting places, where there is an abundance of beautiful ratty otavalan kids who run as freely as the wild dogs, which there are also very many of. for lunch we went to a local joint, whith the menu spraypainted outside on the wall (we try and eat at local places because they are more interesting and much cheaper). we ordered almuerzo, which means lunch, but is code name for the only meal locals order at lunch. today it was, as it ussually seems to be, a bowl of soup filled with weird stuff and peices of gross meat, and then a plate of rice and more of the gross meat that was in your soup. its really filling, tastes alright, and only cost 1.50.
otavalo is very high up, but in a valley surrounded by massive mountains which are partially cultivated. the women all wear traditional garb from a very young age, and mostly its girls and women i see working and carring huge loads of vegtables or weavings wrapped in clothe, carried on their back. they are all very bent over. its women, also, that seem to be homeless beggars more than men. while sitting in the park this afternoon, one beggar woman came up to me and started repeating something over and through a big toothless grin. I found this very funny, and started laughing out loud, and so did she, and with her hand on my knee, we laughed together for quite some time...then i told her to go away. tonight we are going to ride buses for 15 hours through the night until we arrive in Biah de caracas (i think), which is a beach town where chloe spent alot of time during senior projects.
should be interesting. thanks for commenting, its nice to hear from people!
Antone

---

Photos

Funeral Progression
i catptured this from inside the taxi that we took to otavalo; if you cant tell, its a coffin inside the back of a truck, and the family is riding in the back with it. either that, or the people are just hitching a ride and there happens to be a coffin the back truck. but i think otherwise, seeing as they were driving through the center of town and sometimes waved.

otavalan
man in the park

otavalan
the grassy soccer court in otavalo

otavalo
coming into otavalo, from taxi

house
typical city house

Comments

[sophie]

hmmmmmm
so i sent you an email but it said some weird shit about confirmation. let me know if you get it. love soso.

[Antone]

TO SOPHIE
soso, i didnt get your email, but i would love to know yours! [e-mail]