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I'm spending 2 nights in the Andean town of Otavalo in the North of Ecuador. It's famous for it's handcrafts market and although the big market day is Saturday and I turned up on Sunday, it's probably just as well there weren't more stalls than there were as I hit the markets for a serious Christamas shopping spree. I have now set a new personal record for the amount spent on postage - 50 quid. This probably cancels out all the bargaining I did will stall holders but it was either that or cart it round the rest of South America with me.
I went for a wander today and found the food market which reminded me a lot of the La Boqueria market in Barcelona except I didn´t see a single other tourist while I was in there which I quite liked. There were different areas selling dried foods from sacks, fresh fruit and veg and meat (including heads, hooves & a number of other unidentifiable parts although I think I recognised tripe).
There were also stalls selling lunch to people sitting at counters so I plucked up the courage to sit down and ask for a plate of what everyone else was having. I got a plate of pork from a big tray of whole roast pig (heads, tails and everything - Paula you'd have hated it, Jonathon, you'd have loved it) with loads of vegetables which seemed to be mostly different kinds of corn. They love corn here. I did try to ask what the difference was between them but didn't really understand the answer. It was good and I hope I don't live to regret it, I'm sure my immune system isn't quite as up to speed with the food here as the locals are.
I also had a wander though the Parque Central and did a bit of people watching. I'd say about 70% of the locals here wear traditional clothes. Lots of felt hats, frilly blouses, shawls and jewellery for the women and more felt hats and ponchos for the men. I'm glad that it's not just the stall holders who are wearing the traditional costume for the sake of tourism, it's just normal people going about their business.
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