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The best day of
the week to hit this famous and friendly corner of the Andes is Saturday, the
biggest market day for gringos and locals alike. Arrive Friday afternoon, and
then do what most travelers don't: set your alarm for 5:30am. After being jolted
out of bed Saturday morning, walk groggy-eyed along Avenida Colon to the river
and cross the bridge. Upon reaching the top of Avenida Segundo J Castro you'll
find yourself in a scene reminiscent of the pages of National Geographic: the
Otavalo animal market. By 6am, with the sun rising and the mountains casting
improbable shadows over the town, the market is already alive with squealing
pigs and clucking chickens. Plant yourself on the high grassy bank abutting the
market area and watch scenes of unloading, buying, selling and bargaining
unfold. Take your camera (you can happily and discreetly snap away from your
grassy knoll), but leave your animal rights principles behind, as livestock
tender lovin' care is not the highest priority on the day's agenda. By the time
the sun clears the volcanoes at 7am, much of the day's business has already been
done, and its time to head back into town to the artesania
market.
The
Artesan Market
This market is
centered around 'Poncho Plaza'. All day long, the whir of cotton candy machines,
Andean pipe music, and Quichua, the native tongue derived from the Incan tongue,
drift across the square. A blinding maze of colored textiles spills from the
square out across town, encompassing the area between Quito and Calderon and
Bolivar and 31 de Octubre. As you stroll the streets you'll find everything from
jumpers to armadillo shell guitars, wall hangings to ceramic fried eggs. Don't
restrict yourself to Poncho Plaza, as you'll probably get better bargains away
from the main square (the more items you buy, the lower the prices you can
haggle), and the goods on display start to diversify as the market weaves its
way through the side streets.
On the stretch of Jaramillo between Quito and Quiroga, mothers and infants
share the street with geese, puppies, pigeons and cuyes (guinea pig --a popular
local food). Down on Quiroga between Jaramillo and 31st de Octubre (in front of
the Plaza de Toros), the ponchos and babywear are supplanted by potted plants,
skinned calf heads and bleating goat herds. The northern edge of the textile
market is bounded by Calderon, where salesmen extolling the joy of Tupperware
stand between stalls of snakeskin, herbal remedies, and bars of magical soap
used to ward off jealousy.
A few blocks north, the streets are overtaken by stalks of ripening bananas
and pyramids of citrus fruit. The produce market (open roughly the same hours as
the Artesanias market) begins on 31st de October at Calderon and runs past the
cock-fighting pit (for those with a stomach for this violent and bloody sport,
there are regular fights throughout the year) to a covered market bursting with
tropical fruit and vegetables. Non-carnivorous folk will have to avert their
eyes, as some of the meat stalls -- splattered with eyes, jaw bones, ears and
muzzles -- are straight out of Vegetarian Hell. On Plaza Copacabana by the small
fun fair and the local train station, there's a smaller but still interesting
food market, featuring mountainous piles of potatoes and multicolored
sweets.
Otavaleño
Indians
Otavaleños have
become the most prosperous and possibly the most famous indigenous group in
Latin America -- you may have seen them in your own hometown selling their
woolen sweaters or strumming Andean tunes. In the past ten years, Otavaleños
have begun globe-trotting in a successful campaign to export Andean culture --
and earn big bucks along the way.
In part because of their economic success, Otavaleños have managed to hold on
to centuries-old traditions without adopting a 'quick get dressed, here come the
tourists' cultural identity. They are proud people and it shows. While other
indigenous peoples --under pressure to assimilate-- are donning Levis and
tee-shirts, Otavaleños are still easily identified by their distinctive dress:
women wear intricately embroidered blouses and a wealth of beaded necklaces,
while men have long, braided hair and wear calf-length white trousers, ponchos
and sandals.
History has it that Otavaleño Indians have been talented textile makers and
businesspeople since ancient times, perhaps even prior to the Incan invasion. It
is believed that they migrated to the Otavalo area about 1000 years ago from
Bolivia. Under Incan rule in the 15th century, Otavalo became an important
administrative center, as new crops and animals were introduced to the area. A
year after the Spanish conquest, Ecuadorian land was parceled-out to the
Spanish. In Otavalo, Rodrigo de Salazar set up a large weaving workshop (``obraje") on his land; by the mid-1500's it employed hundreds of workers
and produced a large share of the textiles used in colonial South America. The
Spanish introduced new tools and fibers to the weaving industry, and by the
early 1600's, the Salazar workshop had become the most important in the
country.
The textile boom in Otavalo really took off in the early 1960's, when
Otavaleños working at Hacienda Zuleta began to use weaving techniques introduced
from Scotland. And so was born the material known as Otavaleño cashmere, which
with its low price and high quality soon found important customers in Ecuadorian
cities. The weavers diversified their products and soon established themselves
throughout the country. Now, with over 80% of the Otavaleños involved in textile
industry, products from Otavalo are found in markets around the world, from
neighboring countries such as Venezuela and Colombia to the United States,
Europe, and even Asia.
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