5-3
We took the bus from Baños to Otavalo. Along the way we got to see some sweet views of Volcan Tungarahua as well as some other high glaciated volcanoes on the part of the Panamericana Highway known as the avenue of volcanoes. The really high volcanoes were covered in clouds, so hopefully the next time we go that way, it will be clear.
5-4 (saturday)
The hostel we are staying at is really cool. It's located 3km outside of and above Otavalo. It has sweet views of 3 large volcanoes (one heavily glaciated). It has a tennis court, lots of cool swings, a zip line, ping pong, and pretty grounds.
Otavalo is famous as being the largest market in all of South America. And on Saturdays it is at its biggest and also has the animal market So after breakfast, we took the hostel transport down to the Animal Market. Here you could buy anything from cows to pigs to cuy (guinea pigs) to kittens to puppies to chicks to ducks. I asked the prices for a milking holstein cow ($500), a holstein calf ($120), a 2 month pig ($40), a chick (5 cents). These were prices without bartering. In the textile market, Elisha found that she could usually get half off the intial price.
We had some fresh pulled pork (from the market no doubt) and watched all the local indigenous people in their colorful outfits, braids, and cool hats barter away as well as listened to the poor pigs screaming and all the other commotion.
From the animal market we walked to the huge regular market. It took up a huge square and then spilled out into all the surrounding streets. There was fruit, household goods, but mostly textiles. Elisha and I walked around looking at the pretty Andean type items until lunch, at which point I had reached my shopping max and dropped (after buying one pair of underoos to replace a holy pair I had). I got an icecream and then headed to an internet cafe where I caught up on my blog, looked at booking volcano climbs and galapagos stuff while Elisha shopped away
Several hours later, Elisha met up with me, hands full of shopping bags and with an empty wallet I am assuming. She bought a beuatiful Incan wool sweater, but the rest was gifts for her friends and family
We took the bus from Baños to Otavalo. Along the way we got to see some sweet views of Volcan Tungarahua as well as some other high glaciated volcanoes on the part of the Panamericana Highway known as the avenue of volcanoes. The really high volcanoes were covered in clouds, so hopefully the next time we go that way, it will be clear.
5-4 (saturday)
The hostel we are staying at is really cool. It's located 3km outside of and above Otavalo. It has sweet views of 3 large volcanoes (one heavily glaciated). It has a tennis court, lots of cool swings, a zip line, ping pong, and pretty grounds.
Otavalo is famous as being the largest market in all of South America. And on Saturdays it is at its biggest and also has the animal market So after breakfast, we took the hostel transport down to the Animal Market. Here you could buy anything from cows to pigs to cuy (guinea pigs) to kittens to puppies to chicks to ducks. I asked the prices for a milking holstein cow ($500), a holstein calf ($120), a 2 month pig ($40), a chick (5 cents). These were prices without bartering. In the textile market, Elisha found that she could usually get half off the intial price.
We had some fresh pulled pork (from the market no doubt) and watched all the local indigenous people in their colorful outfits, braids, and cool hats barter away as well as listened to the poor pigs screaming and all the other commotion.
From the animal market we walked to the huge regular market. It took up a huge square and then spilled out into all the surrounding streets. There was fruit, household goods, but mostly textiles. Elisha and I walked around looking at the pretty Andean type items until lunch, at which point I had reached my shopping max and dropped (after buying one pair of underoos to replace a holy pair I had). I got an icecream and then headed to an internet cafe where I caught up on my blog, looked at booking volcano climbs and galapagos stuff while Elisha shopped away
Several hours later, Elisha met up with me, hands full of shopping bags and with an empty wallet I am assuming. She bought a beuatiful Incan wool sweater, but the rest was gifts for her friends and family
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