Otovalo: Hagglers' Paradise

Otovalo is in all the guidebooks and it's definitely worth a few hours on the bus from Quito. On Saturdays, the streets are filled with merchants selling everything from blankets to hand-carved chess sets to raw meat. To a bargain hunter, it is a veritable smorgaspord.

Everything is negotiable and only the most naive or timid travelers pay the given price. In fact, I'm convinced that the merchants size up their victims ... er, customers ... as they walk up. The more touristy the gringo, the higher the quoted price. For a native, the dance of negotiation wouldn't be nearly so interesting because the quoted price would be much closer to the merchant's bottom line.

One of the students I explored the market with was a crackerjack haggler. She got some amazing deals. Both she and our friend finished the day loaded with purchases. For me, the memories I took home were enough. I did buy a decorative bowl as a gift for my host mom. She professed to love it, but in a few weeks it might be tucked away under the sofa.

We also visited the "marcado de animales" = animal market. For sale were mainly kittens, chickens, and cuy (guinea pigs). The latter two were destined for a dinner plate. It was wild to see shoppers pick a cuy out of a bag-full and check its privates for breeding compatibility. And to see a half dozen chickens carried away, their bound feet in the fist of a native woman.

Some of the students were shocked or disgusted by this display, but I thought it was fascinating. Plus, the condition suffered by animals in the U.S. and elsewhere for mass consumption hardly gives us room to criticize.

Otovalo is also home to a series of waterfalls that produce most of the electric power for the city. What would be an otherwise-easy hike to see them was made much more difficult by the altitude. When there's no air to breathe, it's hard to breathe. Go figure.