Otavalo, Part 2! (LATE!)

Saturday, 5:30AM—Alarm goes off

Chicken Count: I had chicken dreams! ; )

Tiredness Level: not yet awake

Llama Count: new day, hopefully new llamas

Other Info: I slept like a rock

I have to say that the worst part about Ecuador is waking up in the morning and getting out of bed. It is always really cold, and you don’t want to move when you wake up. Plus, you’re never guaranteed a warm shower here. Melissa wanted to get up at 5:30 to shower, and I told her to wake me up when she got out. So she showered, and I slept in until six. Luckily, by the time I got up, the water was warm, and staying that way. It was delightful. Even in my casa I might not get warm water!

So we showered, and then left to take pictures. We hadn’t really been able to see the beauty of where we were the night before since it was dark out. I walk out into this courtyard and there was this little bridge over what appeared to be a currently dry river bed. I look to my right, and I couldn’t believe it. It was one of the most incredible views I’d ever seen. There’s something to be said about getting out of bed in the morning if you get to see that view. I was incandescently happy. So happy, that it woke me right up. I got on the bus and wrote the following:

7:00AM—assemble on bus

Chicken Count: one was crowing when we awoke

Tiredness Level: exhilarated/excited awakeness

Llama Count: 0

Anyway, we then all assembled on the bus, and took off for Otavalo. Before we even ate breakfast, we were set to visit the Otavalo animal market. I honestly don’t know why we had to go. It was…smelly to say the least. And chaotic. Apparently people bring their animals to sell and I think they might trade for animals, or something. But it honestly was chaos. There were pigs on leashes running all over the place. Sheep huddling together. There were cows trying to have at other cows. There were horses trying to procreate on one end of the field. And amidst it all, apparently people were conducting business. Nelson told us that a lot of cows are sold in the dry season because there isn’t enough grass to keep them fed. Occasionally, he said, there are llamas to be sold. I, being who I am, wanted to find the llamas, but there weren’t any. After just standing around for a while, we returned to the bus, and on the way back to the bus I saw a sole llama standing by the fence! Oh JOY! It made my day.

8:00AM—go to breakfast

Tiredness Level: tired of smelly animals

Llama Count: 1!!!

Other Info: we all smelled like animals

Once all assembled on the bus, Nelson let these two little indigenous girls get on with us. They announced to the bus that they were going to sing to us in Quechua. We listened and applauded. Then right before we arrived at where the bus was going to park for our morning in Otavalo, they started selling us things. They had bracelets and scarves. Most of us had money burning holes in our pockets and bought some. Then we went off to breakfast. It was a very toursity place, so there was nothing really exciting at breakfast (except jugo de mora, which is either blackberry or mulberry juice. That’s always exciting!).

9:00AM—Shop till you drop!

Chicken Count: I don’t remember seeing anymore all day, so no more chicken count

Tiredness Level: READY TO SHOP! Awake

Llama Count: Again, only the one.

Other Info: these vendors are persistant!

After breakfast, Nelson told us to memorize where the bus was, then let us loose in the Otavalo artisan market. It is as wonderful as you’d expect with all sorts of stuff. Alison, Melissa, Katie and I made a beeline for the silver jewelry. We looked at all of the stands and asked prices so that we could come back later and bargain/buy. Then we moved on through the crowd. Let me just say first of all that there are a lot of things to buy, and a lot of very very persistent vendors. They will chase after you if you walk away from a deal. We all had a great time though. I won’t elaborate on what I bought because most of it was for gifts. But I will say that for myself I bought a wonderful alpaca blanket. I actually ended up buying two because after I bought the first, I found another I thought was prettier. I sold the first one to Melissa for $1 less than I bought it for (she bargained me down!).

11:00PM—back on the bus to go see the carvers!

Tiredness Level: shopped-out

Other Info: I hope my whole family wanted a Christmas present from Otavalo…because they got one.

We all managed to assemble back at the bus at the right time, and clambered on with all our bags of goods. After sharing all we bought with each other and debating who got the best deal on what, we headed to another small city outside of Otavalo to see the woodcarvers. The theme of the day was artisan market visiting. First we went to this taller de madera (or wood workshop) where they talked to us about the process of woodcarving and gold-leafing. There was a lot of religious imagery in the shop. The Virgen de Quito was all over the place. It was actually really interesting. Apparently, that’s how the woodcarvers make there money—by selling to Churches. Some of the work was really beautiful.

After the taller, we took the bus futher into the town to go shopping. Basically, every singe store had wood goods. I had some fun going from store to store and comparing prices/buying things, but I didn’t end up with much.

(THIS IS WHEN I STOPPED WRITING THIS BLOG POST AND NOW IT’S BEEN TO LONG FOR ME TO THINK ABOUT IT! SO WE’RE GOING TO END HERE!)

After the carvers, we went to Cuicocha, a volcanic crater full of water, and then we visited the leather workers before going home. Good day.