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Having been to Ecuador 2 years ago on this second visit I'm hopefully going to visit some places I didn't get to go to last time. My blog make start to get a bit confusing as this year's posts may get mixed in with summer 2009 posts….and if I revisit a place it may appear with 2 dates....
Anyway, I started my Ecuador trip in Otavalo. I have been here before but it was a good place to stop south of the border and is a nice town. Plus they have a lovely market, which is good any day of the week but is huge on Saturdays! Also on Saturday mornings there is an animal market and I missed that last time so I went after breakfast on Saturday. It starts at dawn when it is probably busier but there were still lots of animals when we got there (I went with an English couple I'd met in the hostel, Colin and Katie). We wandered around seeing what was on sale and out of interest I asked as I want round how much the various animals cost- the people humoured me and told me the costs!
Prices in dollars ($1= approx. 60p)Chicken- 10,sheep- 55, llama- 100, small guinea pig- 5, big guinea pig- 7,calf- 50, large cow- 300, big (black) pig - 150, big pink pig - 170, small pig- 70-80,small goat- 35,big goat- 50-60, kitten- 1.50, chick- 50 cents.
I felt sorry for the guinea pigs which were in sacks and pulled out to show if people were interested in buying. Pets-wise there were kittens (about £1!) and puppies for sale, also maybe the rabbits (?). The guinea pigs were most likely to eat (I'm still not going to try it) or breed. Same goes for the rest of the animals, plus for the wool. An interesting to sight to see and I'm glad I went to see it as it's part of life here. The indigenous people of Otavalo (Otavalenos)still wear the traditional indigenous clothing, well more specifically the women as I didn't see any men in traditional clothing. The women (and also some girls) wear white blouses embroidered with flowers, long wool skirts, headcloths, woven belts, canvas sandals and gold bead necklaces.
At midday Elena (German girl I'd previously met in Colombia) arrived from Quito and we had lunch then wandered the market together. There is so much lovely stuff to buy! If you are going home after visiting it's an ideal place to pick up souvenirs, gifts, etc but since I have lots more travelling to do I had to resist the temptation to buy! I did get some stuff last time but one thing I knew I wanted was a wall hanging so after some deliberation I decided to buy it here as it was what I wanted. I decided knowing my luck if I don't buy it I won't see it again, if I do buy it I'll see loads of them. At $10 it seemed a good price and is various shades of blue- perfect for me! In the evening I tried to go to a salsa class advertised at the hostel with a swiss girl, Ando, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be! Ended up being a good thing as I developed a really bad headache so after a warming hot chocolate I went to bed early and slept over 11 hours, must have needed it! It's cold in the evenings/night-time here, though the day was really hot and sunny.
Sunday I went with Ando by bus to a nearby village called Peguche. Here we visited a weaving shop which I discovered I had been to last time and had bought my indigenous calendar wall hanging from. We then walked to the Peguche waterfall which was a nice easy walk. I then walked back to town and had a veggie burger for lunch- very nice! J It was a good food day as in the evening Ando and I went for chinese at a place recommended in the LP and it was really good. Real, proper noodles , not pasta like in Colombia! And loads of vegetables too. The kind of thing I make at home, plus it was good value.
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