Otavalo - Traditional clothes and dances
Colombia was great, really. It was the first country in our trip to South America, and somehow was our teacher for the culture, food, people of this amazing continent. But we felt something was missing. We weren’t amazed by this country, nothing left us speechless, we weren’t as excited as we used to be in Asia. We started to wonder if we couldn’t be impressed anymore by a different culture, because we had already experienced the most different ones. But then we arrived in Otavalo, Ecuador, and all these thoughts were instantly wiped out.
The first big shock (a positive one) was how people looked. They had clear traits of ancient populations like Incas, something that we were expecting to find more in Peru and Bolivia, and they still wore typical dresses, as if the western culture hasn’t arrived yet. Also the bus station was more colourful, chaotic, alive, smelly than the Colombian ones. Ecuador hit us like Asia did from the first second we jumped off the bus, and this was just the beginning.
The afternoon after our arrival we just wandered around the centre, we walked to the “plaza de ponchos” to see what it looked like on a weekday, but we restrained ourselves from any shopping waiting for tomorrow's big market. Since in the hostel there was a huge kitchen though, we went to the fruits and vegetables market to buy some fresh food to cook that night. There is always something oddly satisfying in buying your food at the local market. It seems you have achieved some sort of connection with the population that is hosting you. The dinner was disintoxifying after all the fatty fried fat eaten these days.
The day after we set off early to visit the animal market, a real Ecuadorian experience without filters. Cows, chickens, guinea pigs, pigs, sheep everything was there and alive. Tough negotiations were taking place in front of our eyes and the confusion, noise and vendors shouts were the soundtrack of the play.
Among all the things, the main interest for us were the people there. Clothes, gestures, food, habits...amazing. We also bought a fresh cheese and bread, perfect for our lunch.
The textile market in the afternoon was a different experience. It was huge but mostly touristy. Which wasn’t necessarily bad. We bought some stuff and Erika had the courage to buy and wear also the local skirt!! Many women addressed her as “muy hermosa” on the street. She was walking 5 cm from the ground.
Due to an inconvenience with Marco's sweater we went out again and we were so lucky!! We pass through the main square and there was a festival going on. We couldn’t help but join the crowd in the typical dance. The music was soooo engaging and the dance soooo easy (a walk at music pace), but someone was still not able to follow the rhythm.
The next day we wanted to see something out of the city, we wanted to be surrounded by the wonderful nature of this country. We headed off to a volcanic lake some 20km from Otavalo. We walked for almost 5 hours around the old crater, now filled with crystalline water. We shoot hundreds of pictures. Every view looked like worthy of being immortalised in a photo. The weather was good till the end and as a final surprise we met our first Lama!! Cute from far as much as creepy as you approach them. The eyes seem perfect in a horror movie!
The rest of the day we chilled out absorbing the good vibes this town gave us. It’s not hard to say this is going to be one of the best memories of our trip!
