Otavalo and the Famous Artisan Market

I am now in
Ecuador, finishing up a week and a half in the little town of Otavalo, located approximately 1.5 hours north of Quito. I traveled to Otavalo to take a few Spanish classes, and also to get away from some of the bigger cities that I have been visiting, and dive into a place with a little more culture.
Otavalo is an indigenous community located in a valley between two large volcanoes, Imbabura and Cotacachi. The surrounding landscape is truly stunning, providing me with a tranquil retreat from the crazy city life. Life here is exactly what I wanted, slow-paced. The people here are very friendly, despite the hard lives that they lead. It is very common to see an old lady, walking to the Plaza de Ponchos at 6 in the morning, carrying a load 3-4 times as big as her on her back, excited to set up her artisan stand for the day. It does remind me of Africa, except that in Africa, the ladies would carry the load on their heads. I am always amazed by little things like this. These are always good reminders of what our lives could be like.
The best thing about Otavalo is the mix of the old and the new. As it would be cool if it were a little more old-time indigenous, it is nice to have places where you can buy clothes, get on the internet, and find what you need. It is very interesting to see the indigenous folks, walking down the street in their traditional clothing (colorful embroidered blouses, shoulder wraps, and huge beaded necklaces for women, and trousers, blue ponchos, and black hats for the men) ,strolling by a street shop with Tommy Hillfiger jeans in the window. I hope that this place doesn´t lose much more of its authentic vibe. There really aren´t many more places like this remaining. It seems like the broad hand of the West seems to infiltrate everywhere these days.
So the highlight of Otavalo, and what makes the city famous, is its Saturday market. Artisans from all over Ecuador, and even a few from southern Colombia, come to the market to sell their goods, whether they be sweaters, baskets, jewellery, rugs, hats, paintings, produce, or whatever else you can imagine. The entire town is transformed into a huge market. It is truly an unbelievable sight and something that I will never forget. Of course, this kind of spectacle draws tourists from Quito, and you can see the tour buses roll in in the morning with a bunch of gringos excited to score an Ecuadorian souvenir.
I have been staying with a family here who is incredible and so friendly. Viviana, and her 4-year old daughter Romina, invited me into their home. Of course, neither knows any English, which is one reason why I was really excited to stay with them. We eat three meals a day together and I have also had a lot of time to play with Romina and go with her and Viviana to the park. Life here is pretty awesome and I am a little nervous to leave, as I am not very excited to go back to the crazy cities. However, I guess everything is cool in its own way. One of my favorite things about Otavalo is that I can just set out in the morning and walk all over the town, not worrying about getting lost or being a victim of crime. I love just being able to do whatever I would like, not having any timetables or deadlines to worry about, and being able to just go with the flow.
The other day, I had a little bit of a breakthrough with Romina, the young girl in the family. I was lying on my bed, reading a book and studying some Spanish, when she poked her head in my room, and then immediately decided to run and throw herself onto my bed next to me. She then decided that she wanted me to read to her, in English of course, and then translate everything into Spanish for her. It was a lot of fun and I feel that we kind of bonded in that moment. Now, every time she sees me in my room, I know that a reading time is soon to follow. She really is adorable, and reading to her reminds me of working with my favorite little girls in the afterschool and summer school programs at Holy Cross. Wow, now I realize how much I miss those kids!
Last Sunday, I decided that I wanted to explore the surrounding areas around Otavalo.I opted out of the whole guided tour thing, since I hate spending my time with other gringos, taking private vehicles to the sights, and then being whisked away without any interaction with anyone else whatsoever. I ended up taking a bus to a little town called Quiroga, and then finding a guy to take me up to a lake in his worn-down pickup. It was a lot of fun getting there, and this señor and I talked the whole way up to the lake. He dropped me off at Laguna Cuicocha, a marvelous volcanic lake at the base of Volcan Cotacachi. I didn´t have enough time to walk around the entire lake, but I walked around quite a bit of it, snapping pictures left and right, and enjoying the amazing 360 degree views, truly appreciating the volcanic origin of this area. Volcanoes Imbabura and Cayembe towered over the landscape in the distance, as Volcano Cotacachi stodd guard over Laguna Cuicocha. The landscape reminded me a lot of the Crater Lakes region in Uganda, and I suddenly became nostalgic, missing my students and friends back at Lake Lyantonde.
Another cool little trek was the one to La Cascada de Peguche. The impressive waterfall is about a 30-minute walk from Otavalo, along a railroad track and through some smaller outlyings of houses. The waterfall is a sacred place for the indigenous community here, who believe that the water in the pools below the falls has special healing powers. During the celebration of the summer solstice, nearly the whole community of Otavalo makes the walk to the waterfall, where they immerse themselves in the water, symbolizing the washing away of all their negative energies, and the start of something new. Well, I thought about jumping in, but the fact that the waterfall was raging due to the last 4 afternoon thunderstorms, and the fact that I was wearing my only dry pair of clothes (it's hard to dry clothes when it rains all the time), I decided against it, although it was very tempting:)
The last little jaunt during my time in Otavalo was to Las Lagunas de Mojanda, some beautiful crater lakes above the town. Like Laguna Cuicocha, the scenery was breathtaking, and the fact that I was there very early in the morning gave me some good photography opportunities. I ended up not having much time at all because of travel connections, so, being me and a little crazy, I decided to climb a volcano above the laguna. However, it is a 4+ hour roundtrip, and I only had about 1.75 hours. Needless to say, I ended up running to the top of the volcano with my camera, snapping several pictures along the way, climbing the last bit of rocky terrain to the summit, and then running back down, making my taxi with a few minutes to spare. My legs really didn't appreciate my effort, but the photos I took made up for it. You can see these, along with other pics from Otavalo and the surrounding areas, here:
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A3E38A2C94A&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

It is a little sad to leave Otavalo. I really love this place and the tranquil life I was able to have here, if only for a week and change. It was very hard saying goodbye to the family that I have been staying with, and when I approached little Romina, she gave me a hug and refused to let go. Her mom had to drag her away, crying her eyes out. It is pretty unbelievable the bond that children can develop with us, even in a short amount of time. I will miss them greatly. However, now it's time to meet up with my amigos in Quito for some fun in the Ecuadorian capital! Ciao from Otavalo!