Monday, February 6, Otavalo Market

We ate breakfast at 8:00 a.m., consisting of scrambled eggs and locally-baked whole wheat rolls. Alejandra and Jorge arrived at 8:45 to take us to the Otavalo Market, described by our travel agent as the largest and most famous handicraft market in all of South America. Abby’s first purchase was an embroidered black shawl for herself. We purchased a gourd carved with blue-footed boobies. It was one of the few gourds dyed with a color other than black. Abby got an embroidered apron that said “Ecuador” among the flowers. We picked out items for Tom and Laura, also. The vendors were eager to sell, but were neither aggressive nor pushy.

Jorge and Alejandra drove us a short distance to Nanda Manachi, a music shop in Peguche, a suburb of Otavalo. The 59-year-old indigenous proprietor showed us how to make an Andean pan flute out of bamboo tubes. If a tube was out of pitch, he would use his knife to shorten it to correct the pitch. A smart pan flute maker knows to make his tubes a bit too long rather than a bit too short. He demonstrated several Andean instruments, then invited two family members to join him, one on a guitar and the other on a ten-stringed instrument similar to a mandolin or mandola. They played and sang traditional Andean music. It was beautiful.

Another short drive took us to a textile shop where we were given a demonstration of traditional Andean weaving methods. We first saw a very petite woman demonstrate a backstrap loom, the kind used before Europeans arrived. It took so much strength to operate backstrap looms that in pre-columbian times they were normally operated by men. She then demonstrated a European hand loom with a shuttle and pedals, much easier to operate than the backstrap loom. We also saw her card wool and spin it into yarn. She explained, with translation from Alejandra, various natural vegetable matters that are used as dyes.

We also visited a shop where wool hats are made. We saw various forms used to form the crowns of the hats. Alejandra showed us a traditional Andean hat from this region. My favorite hat was the “Modelo Indiana,” of which I took a picture. The proprietor’s son confirmed that it was named after Indiana Jones.

We drove to Cotacachi, a favorite community for American expatriots, for lunch at La Marquesa restaurant. Most of us ordered el almuerzo – the lunch special – which consisted of fried yucca sticks, meatball-potato soup, a thinly-sliced pork chop, rice, beans, and mixed vegetables on a bed of fresh cucumber and tomatoes. We walked to a nearby park where we admired a statue of Lady Liberty and got cash from a bank’s ATM.

Upon our return to our house, La Casa de los Girasoles (sunflowers), Alejandra took some pictures of us in front of and behind the house with Selso and Sylvia. We watched a couple of shepherds leading two cows and a flock of sheep up the road in front of the house, trailed by their dogs. For supper we had thin cutlets of breaded, fried beef, rice and hominy. Dessert was an unfamiliar fruit in syrup. Everyone else went to bed early while I finished my blog.