Otavalo

The day started at 5:45am with no coffee and barely any breakfast. Taylor and I met up with Amber, our friend and the other intern here with Compassion Connection, at 6:15am and waited for our bus into Quito. Two and a half hours, 3 buses and 1 metro line later we arrived at the North Quito Bus Station- Carcelen- and found our 4 bus of the morning to Otavalo. Finally after the bus dropped us off at the side of the main highway at 10:45am we found the market and first things first- we found coffee :)! After apx. 5 hrs of traveling we spent a relaxing and  pleasant afternoon in the market bartering and practicing Spanish.

The Otavalo Market is a major tourist attraction because of the beautifully detailed hand-made trinkets, art, jewelry and the brightly colored fabrics used for scarves, bags and hammocks. I hope these pictures convey the rich culture that can be found at this market in the North Highlands (Andes) of Ecuador!

Scarves for $2.50 each!!

Hammock Fabric

Typical Ecuadorian artwork on mugs.

An abundance of necklaces and colors.

Llama socks!

Old school colored pencils in real wood/ bark.

An example of the bright colors used in the artwork and that one stall can be packed full with one time of product. This one was selling many hand painted scenes from around Ecuador.

Merchants taking a break and playing a common betting game.

Futbol scarves

More bright colors.

even more bright colors and necklaces!

flutes

panama hats