Otavalo Market

Saturday is market day in Otavalo, a tiny little town about two hours north of Quito. Last Saturday, I headed up there early in the morning with Melanie and Norma, a former schoolteacher from Scotland. The market was incredible. Every kind of handicraft, art, apparel and food (yes, those are snails in the top left corner) was sold in street after street of stalls. For the most part, Otavalenos still wear their traditional dress, which includes ponytails on the men and strings of gold beads for the women. It's beautiful. After wandering the market in the rain for several hours, we stopped for mora (blackberry) pie in a shop along the way and wow, was it the best lunch I've had in a while. I resisted buying my and Zac's wedding rings at a booth for $12, but I did succumb to a handknit wool sweater! Now I just have to figure out what to discard so that I can fit it into my backpack...