Otavalo

This was a total whirlwind day trip out of Quito. So many things!

Otavalo is a city two hours north of Quito. It is most famous for the indigenous market that goes on in the centre of the city every Saturday. Luckily for us, we went on a Saturday.

We got on the tour bus outside of our hostel, packed in with a bunch of familiar and new faces from around the hostel. Our first stop was not Otavalo, but a small breakfast place in Cayambe along the way. We got a demonstration on Biscosos, a super baked bread similar to a Biscotti from Italy. We had those with cheese and dolce de leche for breakfast, meeting an American couple Eva and Harrison, and then continued along our way.

The next stop was a lookout over a Lago San Pablo and Cerra Imbabura. It was a pretty view, just a taste of what was to come later in the day. We met our first set of llama’s, who posed for photographs from interested tourists.

Finally was our main location of the day. Otavalo. The market was massive, and it became quickly obvious that we wouldn’t have near enough time to explore it all. Tight lanes between vendors selling jewelry, clothing, ponchos, blankets and all sorts of art sprawled over a large dirt area, each vendor ready to catch an unsuspecting tourist who didn’t understand the bargain.

On the way to the market, a local indigenous woman and her daughter came on the bus and described/explained the symbols of their traditional outfits and sang some songs.

We spent the first 20 minutes or so exploring, trying to figure out what sorts of wonders were at our fingertips. A shopping list got complied, gloves and a little notebook. We needed one to write our Spanish notes in. After wandering through rows of ponchos and rings, we found everything on our shopping list. We also found some hair scrunchies, and in a fit of impulsiveness, a painting. It’s probably a good thing our bags are quite full as it, because we could have spent so much more money on everything.

We took off for lunch afterwards, to some restaurant on the side of the road. It was a standard Ecuadorian lunch, soup, protein, rice and potatoes with juice, and filled us up well. We then had one more destination in mind for the day, the Cuicocha lagoon.

This lagoon is spectacular. A magnificently blue shade surrounded by steep forested slopes in the perfect hills of green. Two islands in the middle of it all. The view was pristine. We took a short walk to a nice viewpoint, stopping along the way for explanations on indigenous calendars. They showed us a sun calendar, and moon calendar which would tell the in community when to harvest their crops. The hike around the whole lagoon (10-12 hours apparently) looks gorgeous, but we did not attempt it. Maybe a different time.

Our final stop was another little town known for their leather. We got excited again, and probably would have spent too much money on shoes and jackets if we had the room for stuff. Curse and bless our bags.

The whole trip was a busy and eventful day. You could have spent 3-4 days doing everything we did and not gotten bored, but for a taster of north of Quito, it was worthy!

More adventures outside the capital are coming. We will see you there!