Otavalo: a city and its markets

On Saturdays, Otavalo turns into a gigantic open-air market. Every plaza, every street, every patch of sidewalk is suddenly occupied by someone selling something. Clothes, vegetables, sweets, batteries... We find everything, in a delicious mess.

The small Andean town located two hours by coach north of Quito, the capital, has had a commercial vocation for hundreds of years. It was a market in Inca times. It was also under the rule of the Spaniards. Even today, centuries later, Otavalo is recognized across the country for having the most colorful handicraft market of all. Although it is authentic, one quickly has the impression that without the tourists, the natives in traditional costume would no longer spend their entire days there under a blazing sun.

But Saturday is a different story. The three markets of the city, that of crafts, that of food (absolutely superb) and that of animals, installed a few kilometers from each other, are now one. Thousands of Native Americans from the area flock to the city to sell and buy. They are in the strong majority in Otavalo and wear, even in everyday life, their traditional clothes. A long black skirt, a puffy shirt and a scarf across the shoulders or tied on the head for women; white pants and a felt hat for men.

It is thus dressed that they storm the markets of the city perched at an altitude of 2,600 m. Here a woman cooks plantains on a portable grill. Next door, a man is negotiating the purchase of two screeching hens in a cage on the sidewalk. Behind them, the entire street was taken over by fruit and vegetable stalls. Corn, potatoes of all shapes and colors, fresh herbs, tree tomatoes, with which we make sweet juices, then bags and bags of cereals...

Sitting behind their stalls, the women melodically recite the names of the products they sell. In front of them, a street vendor sells coconut juice directly from the nut. Another carries a large metal bowl filled with ice cream.

A few squares further north, we find the plaza de los Poncho, where the craft market is held every day. On Saturday, it seems to have doubled in size in an explosion of noises, textures and colors. Alpaca wool blankets, knit hats, hammocks, striped ponchos... The Otavalo Amerindians are recognized weavers, but with the rise of tourism, production has become standardized and everything is no longer handmade. Better to remain vigilant.