Isn't This the Life?!: Otavalo

We traveled by bus from Mindo to Otavalo. This involved going from Mindo to Quito in one bus, taking a taxi from one bus station to another, then taking another bus from that bus station to Otavalo.

Otavalo is reknowned for its textile market, which is largest on Saturdays. We arrived at lunch time and had the afternoon for shopping in the huge open air market that spills out onto the surrounding streets for many blocks. On market day you can buy just about anything in the peripheral market stalls around the main market square.

Since we are traveling with only 2 carry on bags and 2 day packs we do not have much room for purchases, so we didn't buy much. We found it interesting and a bit overwhelming to explore the market with stalls full of scarves, blankets, jackets, table cloths, rugs, wall hangings, jewelry, panama hats, pottery. There were also stalls selling fruit and vegetables and little lunch spots selling soups, strange combinations of potatoes, corn and blood sausage, and roasted pork with chicharones (pork skin cracklings).

On Sunday we went for a hike to the Parque Condor, a rescued raptor sanctuary which has a free flight show most days. There were lots of people there as Sunday is family day. One family in a small truck gave us a ride for the last kilometer as they saw us puffing up the trail looking very tired from the 4 km walk.

The Parque has a small visitor center with a few displays, including one showing the size of a condor's wingspan.

Here's Evanna comparing her wing span with that of the condor

The rescued birds live in enclosures that have a stone wall on one side and wire on the other three sides and the top. The enclosures have lots of vegitation and trees in them, making a nice environment for the birds. They had a variety of hawks, some eagles and some owls in addition to the pair of condors for whom the park is named.

Unfortunately our Sanish language skills were not sufficient to follow the commentary of the falconer during the free flight demonstration. We could understand the basics - the age of the bird and the diet but we missed all the jokes. The flying demonstrations were excellent and the birds were beautiful. The area for these demonstrations looked out over a huge valley toward the volcano Cotacatchi. They flew two types of hawks, a bird they call and eagle which is actually a large hawk, and a kestrel. They also showed and talked about a barn owl and another kestrel.

The grey eagle, which is actually a hawk. This guy didn't want to come back once he was released to fly, but eventually he returned.

Evanna holding a Kestrel

One of the very handsome eagles they have at the Parque Condor

We left the Condor park and continued down the ridge on the opposite side from Otavalo, toward Lago San Pablo, walking past people's fields, on a rough path. The planting practices are very interesting in this area of Ecuador as they inter-crop, planting corn, beans and another crop we couldn't identify, all at the same time. As the corn grows the beans climb on the corn stalks, and the beans add nitrogen to the soil. The barbed wire fences around the crops are held up by planting small trees and attaching the wires to the tree trunks. It appears that each year they cut the top of the tree off at fence post height, use the wood they cut off for fire wood, and allow new shoots to grow so they will have more firewood the following year.

On the path through the fields

Corn , beans and another crop all planted at the same time

Living fence posts

At the lake we stopped by a couple of docks and had a snack and watched the local families going on boat rides, and the kids playing on the dock. Many of the indigenous Otavalo women were in their traditional dress, which consists of an ankle length wool underskirt of a light color, usually white, cream or beige, covered by a wrap around wool overskirt of dark blue, grey or black. They wear an embroidered white blouse with a round neckline and puffy sleeves, covered by another piece of the skirt cloth tied on as a shawl under one arm and then tied over the other shoulder. They often have a piece of cloth that they tie into a head wrap, or just carry on top of their head to shade them from the sun.

Kathy at Lago San Pablo

Evanna with our snack of chocolate dipped strawberries

The volcano Imbabura towers over Lago San Pablo

The next day we took a taxi to Peguche, a small village on the outskirts of Otavalo which is a weaving village. Many of the textiles for sale in the Otavalo market are machine made, which makes them very inexpensive. Most of what is sold in the shops in Peguche is hand woven and considerably more expensive due to the hours of hand work that these items take to make. The woman who owned the shop gave us a demonstration of the types of looms and the natural dyes they use, and the spinning and wrap process for the wool.