Some things are worth getting up early for..

Having to wake up at 530AM every morning for classes, the idea of getting up yet again at that time on a Saturday doesn´t sound too tempting, but alas, this past Saturday, my friend Jeff and I headed North to Otavalo with his host mother, Marianna, for the weekly artisan markets. Needless to say, the early morning wake-up call was well worth it. It was only a short bus ride away (1 hour and 45 mins, that´s short here...remember Cuenca was 8 hours and Lima is some 27 hours.) When we hopped off the bus, we were greeted by a taxi driver that knew Jeff´s host mother by name. The town was small enough that Marianna, who had family in Otavalo and grew up there, was like a legend in the town.

After we settled some of our belongings in their family´s home, Jeff and I headed out to begin the wild process of bartering. I´ve been to markets before, both in Central America and here in Quito, but never before have I seen so much hustle and bustle with a market. The actual market covered at least 10 blocks and was filled with jewelry, scarves, sweaters, Guayasamin knock'offs and everything in between. It was a great sight to see. The two intrepid gringos were given two pieces of advice--1st) only speak Spanish as you walk through, which to us seemed like a great way to begin practicing and 2nd) when a salesperson offers a price, offer half and work from there. Since Jeff was headed back to the States, he was able to buy Christmas presents for his family and I was lucky enough to ship some stuff back to some friends with him and buy a little drum for my host brother, whose birthday was yesterday (the big numero dos). After four hours, we came back to the house with eight bags and more than we ever could´ve imagined. It´s incredibly tiring and a lot of times, you´ll see much of the same crafts, just different people willing to sell at different prices. Some interesting things we saw were some large funky jewelry crafted from horn, these beautiful colorful bowls with intricate designs, and of course, a water bottle crafted from a cow´s hoof (Can´t even imagine walking around camp with that! ha) All in all, the market was amazing and definitely worth a trip back.

Once we had gathered our things from the market and grabbed a bite to eat, Marianna was able to get us a ride in a camionetta (ie the back of a truck) and we headed to El Lechero. El Lechero is a specific tree that usually most locals just use as a guide that they are half way to the Lake and are headed in the right direction. It´s especially cool because it is of a certain species that produces milk through its leaves, but typically these trees live for 5 years and then dry up and die. Apparently this tree has been there in solitude for 80+ years and has never dried up or deteriorated. It is a sight to see and surrounding the hill it sits on are mountains and an overlook of a lake. It´s absolutely beautiful.