Market Day in Otavalo

Before we start, there is a new picture at the bottom of the page

Well, this morning we awoke at 6AM to head out to the famed animal market. After walking sveeral blocks, over an old bridge and into a fair grounds, we finally arrived - to the squeals of piglets, guinea pigs and cows.

We wandered through, carefully so as not to get in the middle of a pig fight and also so we wouldn´t slip in the "mud" - if thats what it was.

There were pens of chicks, hens, guinea pigs and unfortunately puppies and kittens - not for consumption though. One thing we did notice is the animals are well taken care of - almost on every corner there is a veterinary clinic or pet shop.

After strolling through the sounds and smells for about 45 minutes, it was time to head to the main market. When they say big, they mean BIG!!!

On every corner, on every speck of concrete there was a stall, selling anything from spices, to scarves, to Alpaca blankets.

Beautiful colours and textures - just amazing. It was so big we actually felt a little overwhelmed at times as you didn´t know where you were and all there was was a sea of colours and people. But it was great - like nothing either of us had seen before. So of course, we had to shop!

We ended up buying an Alpaca blanket for home and a few other small things. If we could have reserved a shipping container we could have brought more!!!

After about 3 hours of wandering (by the way the sun came out and it got hot - Otavalo is almost on the equator so we had to be careful of the sun) - we went back to our room, unloaded out stash and hailed a taxi for Peguchi.

Peguchi is about 10 minutes outside of town and all inhabitants are indiginous. Also, it is know for its Master Weavers. Other than that, there is nothing else there - almost literally!!! Except of course for the famed Waterfall.

We trudged uphill for about 20 minutes and then came to the entrance to the small park area. A nominal donation and we were in. The waterfall was quite beautiful - with a very refreshing spray as it plumetted down.

After wandering for about 2 hours, our taxi driver returned (as promised) and brought us back. Now we are here updating our blog and getting hungry as there were no restaurants (that we could find) in Peguchi!

Ciao for now and we´ll update again tomorow after our hike around Cuicotcha Lake.