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Yesterday, Linda and I left Cotacachi and took our house guest, Durga Ishaya, to the Otavalo Market, which is about 5 miles from here.
This market is simply incredible. Literally thousands of vendors from all over northern Ecuador, along with sizable group of tourists, swarm down on this small city, inundating it like a a swarm of bees.
We haven't been to the Saturday Otavalo market for several months, and it seems to me that it just gets bigger and bigger. The heart of the market is a full square block of stands called Plaza de los Ponchos.
I get completely lost in this maze of vendors. It's a wonder that I ever find my way out. From the plaza, the stand and booths radiate 8 to 10 blocks out on every street, so you literally have 70 or 80 blocks of vendors, all hoping to trap the unwary tourist in their smiles and charms, thereby separating them from their money.
For example, Durga wanted to purchase a couple of Panama hats (these hats, while called Panama, are made here in Ecuador). She found a very friendly, young, female vendor and engaged her in the ritual negotiation dance. The price started out at $12 each. Finally, after about 10 minutes of friendly banter, we managed to get the price down to $15 for two, including a nice wooden box to put them in.
We felt energized, like we had received a wonderful deal. A few minutes later, I priced a similar hat at a neighboring stand. This vendor started out at $7 per hat. Ouch!!! One rule reins supreme in this market: "Let the buyer beware." Click here for Info on how to negotiate.
Nevertheless, the market is great fun, there are wonderful works of art, textiles, beautifully painted wooden bowls, and magnificent stone sculptures, not to mention rows and rows of hand crafted silver jewelry.
A visit to the Otavalo market is worth the trip to Ecuador in itself. Not to mention the fact that it is only a few minutes from Cotacachi's leather street, and San Antonio de Ibarra's wood carvers.
But we will leave those delights for another post.
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