 |
| Otavalo's main market square |
Finally!
After
spending a month exploring Ecuador, traveling mostly by bus, and living out of
a carry-on pack I’m at the Saturday Craft Market in Otavalo!
When I planned our travels through Ecuador, I deliberately
set Otavalo for the end of the trip. My
husband was especially happy about that as he then did not have to haul my
Ecuadorian treasures around for a month.
And I was pretty good about not buying much in other towns with the
exception of a pretty pair of silver earrings and a Panama hat.
The craft market lasts all day so there is no hurry to buy
from the first vendor in line. The
Saturday animal market only runs until noon and while I’m not planning on
shipping home any farm animals, I did want to look around just for fun.
It isn’t a long walk to the outskirts where the animal
market is held in a big field and the stroll through the main square and up the
side streets is a good opportunity for a first glance at the craft booths. Popular with weekend tourists as well as
locals the animal market is filled with an array of chickens, pigs, and
horses. The scene is chaotic in my eyes,
but the farmers seem to have a system down so my husband and I just stand back
out of the way and observe the action.
After a bit it is time to head back into the fray of craft
vendors. There are several things that I
have seen though out Ecuador that I would really like to take home.
In several different cities street vendors have been selling
soft, colorful blankets. The usual claim
is that they are made from baby alpaca wool.
I’m not sure if they are or they aren’t – but I love the colors and
textures. There are several vendors in
the main square selling blankets, and I have to check them all to compare
available colors. Finally, I settle on
one vendor and bargain a bit for the half dozen I want to take home. I’m never quite sure how much bargaining to
do and I might not have attempted had I not wanted so many.
Then with arms loaded with all these blankets we make a
quick trip to our room to drop them off.
There are different types of items at the market but what I
enjoy the most is the textiles. Back in
the square I shop for scarves. There are
many Ecuadorian ladies with tables draped in scarves of all colors and I spread
my purchases around buying two here, three there, a few more down the
street. The scarves will fold up into a
small area and make very nice gifts. The
blankets, those are different matter.
There are several vendors selling duffel shaped bags made in colorful
Ecuadorian patters from very reasonable prices.
I purchase several as I suspect the airlines aren’t going to let me
board with my arms loaded with blankets.
A few more purchases round out the craft market shopping
expedition. On of my favorites is a
woven tablecloth. Several months later
as I enjoy my table set with the cloth, I wish that I had purchased
several. But maybe that is a good reason
to good back to the market!
No comments:
Post a Comment