Otavalo
What a great name for a city. I would probably name a city Otavalo if in such a position just so I could say the name a thousand times a day. It´s also fun to ramble ¨Otavalo¨like some sort of Halloween ghost call. Give it a try in honor of the 31st. ¨Oooo-ta-vaaaaaa-lo, OOOOOO-ta-VAAAAAAAA-LOOOOO.¨Right. Glad we got that over with.
So Otavalo is a mere 30 minutes away from Ibarra. A very easy bus ride that costs me 40 cents. In Otavalo every Saturday is a ¨Ferriado¨or holiday, because Otavalo is home to the most successful Indigenous population in all of South America. Every Saturday is ¨market day¨and Indigenous Ecuadorians from all around the city come in pushing their little shops on metal carts to set up for the day. They arrive as the sun comes up and leave as it sets. They sell everything handicrafts: masks, clothes, jewelry, artwork, etc. The most fun thing for budding Spanish speakers is that every Otavalean sale is an effort in bargaining. Off the bat people will charge 400 % of their expected price in expecation of a conversation to arrive at a fair price. Quite a difficult activity in your native language, and thus great practice for us Gringos.
Anyway, last Saturday I got off the bus in downtown Otavalo and headed for the main market to meet up with some of other volunteers for a little reunion. After sharing some stories over lunch we set out to investigate the situation.
Basically the streets are lined with tiny little street vendors along both sides of the street. The shops behind the vending stands are barely visible. Each stand displays a wealth of different odds and ends, and only truly persistent shoppers are able to find the truly unique crafts. Picture San Francisco´s Fillmore Street Fair on ritalin. Everyone moves at a much faster rate and every vendor constantly yells out luring quips to try to reign in prospective buyers. Plus all of the vending stands are set up touching each other. Thus you are bombarded by sights, sounds, and a temptation to buy things.
As we strolled the market I noticed a couple of things. One was that a lot of the stuff is pretty generic. I was expecting to see a multitude of family specific crafts and ideas, but basically the market has been in business for so long that a lot of items now have copy cat type items. The second thing I noticed is the immense ability to bargain a price. For the exact same winter hat I received quotes of 6 dollars, 3 dollars, and 4 dollars at different stores. Shopping around can definitely land you a deal if you dont feel comfortable bargaining away in broken Spanish.
The most striking thing to a foreginer like me is the rampant ripping off of patented logos or personas. The Pirates of Ecuador would absolutely wipe the floor with the Pirates of the Carribean. I saw Bulls hats, Niners hats, Cinderella this, Spiderman that, I mean the piracy is unbelievable in Ecuador. Someone was telling me that Ecuador has the most rampant rip offs in all of South America and Otavalo might actually be the capital.
Aside from the crafts market the food market is unbelievable. You can never quite prepare yourself for the sight of indigenous Ecuadorians spooning meat out of a pig´s head when people order Hornado (which by the way is delicious). All of the fruit is delicious and fresh and all parts, I mean all parts, of animals are for sale. Did you know that one of Ecuador´s delicacy is Bull´s Penis? Right me neither. Definitely ate pig´s intestines for lunch today again by the way.
You could easily spend hours blowing money in Otavalo. I, however, am not much of a shopper and was defeated after about two hours of browsing. Some of the highlights for me were:
-Full Head masks that are dead ringers for the monsters that chase Pacman.
-Unbelievable wooden masks. Scary, interesting, funny, you name it. Unreal craftsmanship that created lifelike dynamic faces and expressions.
-Fairly cool paintings. Total hotel room or bathroom type deals, but pretty cool nonetheless.
-Awesome winter hats. A Dartmouth frat boys paradise. However, we are on the equator.
-Pretty cool wooden sculptures of Indian heads. I know one person who´s probably getting one for Christmas. (Matches perfectly)
-Delicious Pineapple. The fruit here in Ecuador is absolutely outstanding.
-Rugs dot com. Long ones, short ones, thick ones, fat ones, and, best of all, those furry ones that make you immediately think of a fireplace and a ski lodge.
After the market we all went out and about to listen to Indigenous music and dance a little bit. The highlight for me was a stiff wristed drummer that looked like one of those little kids that just bangs on stuff for his own personal amusement. He also had a ridiculous mullet. Absolute dead ringer for one of those creepy Latin or French Lovers from the eighties. Hard to beat a curly haired mullet. I mean this guy was one comb away from being Jauque (the bowler who tried to steal Marge from Homer) with black instead of red hair.
The next day we hiked up to a ¨magical¨tree called the Lechero. I didn´t feel any magic but I did see a French guy take off his pants. Kind of weird. We also saw some unbelievable condors. A pack of eight just flew around the countryside about a stone´s throw from us. The Lechero also was home to an unbelievable view of Otavalo and the neighboring laguna. Ecuador possesses incredibly dynamic and gorgeous countryside. If it ever comes out in the states with subtitles check out some scenes from an Ecuadorian movie called ¨Que Tan Lejos.¨Apparently is has some excellent cinematografic views of Ecuador´s countryside.
Please excuse the quick entry, but I am broke. Payday is hopefully tomorrow. We´ll see. The lateness in this country is a whole different issue.
Happy Halloween everyone. I am heading to Cuenca this weekend. Stay tuned.
-Kane
So Otavalo is a mere 30 minutes away from Ibarra. A very easy bus ride that costs me 40 cents. In Otavalo every Saturday is a ¨Ferriado¨or holiday, because Otavalo is home to the most successful Indigenous population in all of South America. Every Saturday is ¨market day¨and Indigenous Ecuadorians from all around the city come in pushing their little shops on metal carts to set up for the day. They arrive as the sun comes up and leave as it sets. They sell everything handicrafts: masks, clothes, jewelry, artwork, etc. The most fun thing for budding Spanish speakers is that every Otavalean sale is an effort in bargaining. Off the bat people will charge 400 % of their expected price in expecation of a conversation to arrive at a fair price. Quite a difficult activity in your native language, and thus great practice for us Gringos.
Anyway, last Saturday I got off the bus in downtown Otavalo and headed for the main market to meet up with some of other volunteers for a little reunion. After sharing some stories over lunch we set out to investigate the situation.
Basically the streets are lined with tiny little street vendors along both sides of the street. The shops behind the vending stands are barely visible. Each stand displays a wealth of different odds and ends, and only truly persistent shoppers are able to find the truly unique crafts. Picture San Francisco´s Fillmore Street Fair on ritalin. Everyone moves at a much faster rate and every vendor constantly yells out luring quips to try to reign in prospective buyers. Plus all of the vending stands are set up touching each other. Thus you are bombarded by sights, sounds, and a temptation to buy things.
As we strolled the market I noticed a couple of things. One was that a lot of the stuff is pretty generic. I was expecting to see a multitude of family specific crafts and ideas, but basically the market has been in business for so long that a lot of items now have copy cat type items. The second thing I noticed is the immense ability to bargain a price. For the exact same winter hat I received quotes of 6 dollars, 3 dollars, and 4 dollars at different stores. Shopping around can definitely land you a deal if you dont feel comfortable bargaining away in broken Spanish.
The most striking thing to a foreginer like me is the rampant ripping off of patented logos or personas. The Pirates of Ecuador would absolutely wipe the floor with the Pirates of the Carribean. I saw Bulls hats, Niners hats, Cinderella this, Spiderman that, I mean the piracy is unbelievable in Ecuador. Someone was telling me that Ecuador has the most rampant rip offs in all of South America and Otavalo might actually be the capital.
Aside from the crafts market the food market is unbelievable. You can never quite prepare yourself for the sight of indigenous Ecuadorians spooning meat out of a pig´s head when people order Hornado (which by the way is delicious). All of the fruit is delicious and fresh and all parts, I mean all parts, of animals are for sale. Did you know that one of Ecuador´s delicacy is Bull´s Penis? Right me neither. Definitely ate pig´s intestines for lunch today again by the way.
You could easily spend hours blowing money in Otavalo. I, however, am not much of a shopper and was defeated after about two hours of browsing. Some of the highlights for me were:
-Full Head masks that are dead ringers for the monsters that chase Pacman.
-Unbelievable wooden masks. Scary, interesting, funny, you name it. Unreal craftsmanship that created lifelike dynamic faces and expressions.
-Fairly cool paintings. Total hotel room or bathroom type deals, but pretty cool nonetheless.
-Awesome winter hats. A Dartmouth frat boys paradise. However, we are on the equator.
-Pretty cool wooden sculptures of Indian heads. I know one person who´s probably getting one for Christmas. (Matches perfectly)
-Delicious Pineapple. The fruit here in Ecuador is absolutely outstanding.
-Rugs dot com. Long ones, short ones, thick ones, fat ones, and, best of all, those furry ones that make you immediately think of a fireplace and a ski lodge.
After the market we all went out and about to listen to Indigenous music and dance a little bit. The highlight for me was a stiff wristed drummer that looked like one of those little kids that just bangs on stuff for his own personal amusement. He also had a ridiculous mullet. Absolute dead ringer for one of those creepy Latin or French Lovers from the eighties. Hard to beat a curly haired mullet. I mean this guy was one comb away from being Jauque (the bowler who tried to steal Marge from Homer) with black instead of red hair.
The next day we hiked up to a ¨magical¨tree called the Lechero. I didn´t feel any magic but I did see a French guy take off his pants. Kind of weird. We also saw some unbelievable condors. A pack of eight just flew around the countryside about a stone´s throw from us. The Lechero also was home to an unbelievable view of Otavalo and the neighboring laguna. Ecuador possesses incredibly dynamic and gorgeous countryside. If it ever comes out in the states with subtitles check out some scenes from an Ecuadorian movie called ¨Que Tan Lejos.¨Apparently is has some excellent cinematografic views of Ecuador´s countryside.
Please excuse the quick entry, but I am broke. Payday is hopefully tomorrow. We´ll see. The lateness in this country is a whole different issue.
Happy Halloween everyone. I am heading to Cuenca this weekend. Stay tuned.
-Kane
posted by ecuadortraveler at 4:14 PM
2 Comments:
B!!
What a great name to see on a lovely Wednesday!
I hope that you are doing well.
You are absolutely right. No way Jose on eating any of the street food unless you have a guide or an extremely strong stomach. I have been lucky so far however. No problems to date. Take care. Love you.
Basically they just put the pig in a big oven and cook it so that all the meat stays inside the pig while it is cooked. After the pig is done in the oven they pull it out, cut a whole in its head and start scooping away. Pretty cool right?
They actually do have Simpson's here but it is all in Spanish. Though I haven't seen the bowling episode in a while, I do appreciate the Ecuadorian version of Homer's voice. It kind of sounds like Chewbaca from Star Wars.
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