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Published: September 23rd 2009
Yesterday my friends Michelle, Scarlett and went to this small market town called Otovalo. It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Quito. It always amazes me how cheap things are here (except when the taxi drivers try to overcharge). We get to the bus station and the fair is $2 and when we get on the bus we had the privilege of watching “Man on Fire” (in Spanish). The bus ride was gorgeous. Mountains everywhere. As long as I live I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing the beauties of nature.
We get to Otovalo and we kind of feel like we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere and we went in search of the market. The weekend that we went was a festival weekend so when we walked into center of town there were all sorts of people -a man was blowing fire, a woman was walking around with a dead chicken with its head cut off. The town was beautiful. The sidewalks were tiled. It was just gorgeous. We were in the center of town but we still didn’t see the market. We walked down about another block
Heart of the Mountain
This has got to be my most favorite picture of the bunch...look closely...can you see the heart??...oh the miracles of nature...and there it was. I have to admit that is was kind of overwhelming. So many people everywhere. So many beautiful things to see and buy.
Walking around the market and seeing these beautiful things made realize how lucky I am. Almost everything in the market is handmade. These beautiful handmade items cost so little. These people are only trying to feed their families and here I am the recipient. It is a really humbling experience. So, what did I buy?? I brought three pairs of earrings (about $4), a hand-painted vase ($10), a hand-embroidered shirt ($7), a handmade doll ($2) and a bunch of other trinkets ($3). But that’s not even the best part.
Everybody wears boots here and I don’t mean the kind of boots we have in Texas. Really nice boots. Okay I’m going to go a little off subject. The girls here look like supermodels. They wear five inch stilettos to class. They come to class looking like they just walked off the set off a music video. That is how I knew I was going to be able to find some really nice boots here. Anyways my host mom told about this town
called Cotocachi about 15 min. outside of Otovalo that specializes in leather goods. Of course wanted to go so that I could get some boots. We went…and we spent. I brought two pairs of leather boots for $105. I also bought a leather backpack for $30. Amazing deals! I would never be able to do that in the United States.
After Cotocachi we went to the Laguna of Cuicoha. It is a volcanic lake (that means it was made from the eruption of a volcano). It is to this day the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I was so peaceful, so serene, so…there aren’t really words to describe it. One of the many miracles of nature.
When we finally got home Scarlett went her separate way and Michelle and I decided to find something to eat. Another adventure with the taxi. I don’t understand why me and Michelle always pick the taxi drivers that have no clue where they are going, but we do. When ended up getting dropped in some shady neighborhood with a bunch of bars and all the restaurants were closing. We decided to go to La Mariscal, which is the center of
el fuego en Otavalo
Get ready to see something cool...or should i say hot... town where all the clubs are. We knew we could find a restaurant that we open there. We ate at the place called the Magic Bean. Although the food wasn’t Ecuadorian, it was wonderful. All in all it was an amazing day!!!
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