Friday afternoon, we rushed to leave after an exhausting but fun two days of classes, dancing, and going out. Thursday night I did my best salsa dancing, after taking one class earlier that day, to some live music at a small Cuban restaurant.
The bus to cost two dollars and took about 2.5 hours to get to Otavolo, a smaller town north of the city that is best known for its large Saturday morning market. Lilly had arranged a hotel. The service was friendly but our room smelled like car exhaust and shit. We should have asked to change rooms from the get go but live and learn. The highlight was the hot strong shower, which I managed to take two of in the time we were there. My shower in Quito leaves a bit to be desired.
We went out to a somewhat high class dinner, $15 compared to the normal $2-7, at a hotel on the outskirts of town. Wine, chips and guacamole, fress homemade bread, and an enchilada cassarole. Saturday we woke up early to go to the market and spent the whole morning looking, shopping and bargaining. It was fun to interact with the vendors and I was happy with my purchases. A light multi-colored woven scarf, a traditional wool wall hanging with an animal design, a little music maker, a matching pair of earings and necklace made of some sort of seeds from the orient, and a few gifts for my family which I guess I will leave as a surprise. I think this will be my biggest shopping event of the trip because I can´t carry much while traveling and I hear is it expensive to mail things from here.
5 comments:
I bought a t-shirt that i still wear to bed every night and a Guayasamin print at Otavalo! There were really interesting people there, we spent forever chatting with them. Your photos are beautiful! Miss you!
what gifts did you get your friends?
http://www.elections.state.md.us/pdf/2008_Absentee_Ballot_Application.pdf
I have something in mind for friends but it requires a trip to a special little town about 45min from Quito. One of these days!
Hi Alyssa,
I visited Otavalo a few year ago, too, and loved it. Compared to Quito, it is really a tranquil village where you can still do a lot without the smog, masses of people and the prices are lower, too. It has become quite popular among tourists and is famous for it's textile products. I purchased a bunch of it - probably too much ;-)
Good luck,
Martin
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