There were a few stalls set up for toursity affairs (ponchos etc) but the rest of the market was aimed at local people, and they come from all over. Stalls with used clothing, food stuffs, household goods fill up the main market area. There is also a section set up with sewing machines to fix anything that may need to be fixed, as well there is a seperate animal market, that made the animal market at Otavalo look tiny.
The animal market is especially interesting because of the sounds and the smells that are there. As with all sections of the market it is flanked on the edges by food stalls selling all sorts of food, but most with a full roast pig which is carved away throughout the day. Then the market is broken down into sections, there is a section where you can buy food for your animals, and then from there it is the sheep and llama section, pig section, and cow, horse and donkey section. The sound of the pigs is the most amusing because they pretty much don´t want to do anything outside of snuffling the ground, and so their squeels and grunts fill the air. Some of it is kind of hard to take in because some of the owners get pretty annoyed with their pigs not listening and use some drastic dragging, switch hitting and kicking methods.
We must say we enjoyed this market far more than the market in Otavalo, although it was worth it to see both. The market in Otavalo is a lot more kitsche in retrospect, with repeat stall after repeat stall of tourist goods. Saquisili has a more authentic purpose, serving the community, and is less for show and at times seemed like a flea market (although parts of Otavalo´s market where definitely not for tourists).
We spent only a few hours in Saquisili as we had been told there was a 10am bus leaving Latacunga for Quilotoa, the first stop along the Quilotoa Loop. As usual, you have to ask a few people when the buses are leaving, every person says something different, and none of them end up being correct. The bus actually left at 1130am.
The bus ride in itself to Quilotoa was amazing. As it seems with most of our travels, it wound through dirt road switchbacks past farmlands and craggy mountains, absolutely breathtaking scenery. As the Loop is a bit off the beaten track, and because it isn´t tourist season, we were the only tourists on the bus, and the rest of the people were locals returning from the market to their homes.
We arrived in Quilotoa after a couple of hours and were dropped off on the side of the dirt road outside of town. Quilotoa is a tiny, tiny town (pop 125) on the top of a mountain which overlooks one of the most spectacular volcanic lagoons in Ecuador. There really aren´t any hostals in town, just a few very very basic beds for rent in people´s houses. Luckily we didn´t actually have to start knocking on doors because a man on a bike met us on the road in and told us he had a few beds at his house. For 7USD each we got a bed in a dirt floor house with a fire place and two meals.
As with most things Lonely Planet (hence forth referred to as LP) touches, Quilotoa is now learning to embrace the tourists and so our "hostal" owner had started up his place a year or two ago, and is working on it bit by bit. He has a small room with about ten beds in it, adjoining another smaller room with a common table and a fire stove.
This hostal is basically built on the lip of the crator´s rim and about a 30second jaunt uphill past the sheep and the pig to the lookout. The lagoon in itself is huge, so big I couldn´t even fit it into one picture, with tourqoise water and huge cliffs. After some tea we decided to head out and hike along its rim and down by the lagoon and back out again. This, in hindsight, was a poor idea to do in sandals given all the sand sliding over volcanic rock, but it was a fun adventure none the less.
The night was spent hanging around with Manuel and his family. Manuel didn´t speak any english, but he spoke Spanish and Quechua (local indegenous language in SA) and so it was a lot of fun speaking to him. At times it was hard, it felt somewhat like we were being babysat. There were no other tourists there, or for what we could tell in town at all. His family, or at least one of them was always with us. They are quite resourceful, having started up the hostal and also Menual paints in the Ecuadorian style of the lagoon and Cotopaxi and llamas etc. His esposa weaves scarves and Manuel also translates stories into Quechua to sell. Sitting with them was very interesting, it is just hard sometimes because we find that a lot of people know that if they put up with some small talk with tourists they are more likely to make a bigger sale.
That being said we asked as much as we could. We talked about his land, how it is about a 15 by 20meter plot and that he bought it for a few thousand dollars. His plot is right on the lagoon and back in Canada it would be worth millions. He told us a large pig here is worth 100+ USD, although that is cheaper in the city. He said a rooster is worth 10-15 USD, although again, cheaper in the city. (Quilotoa is very far removed and tiny, there is no store or water. Manuel has to go into town once a week on the 3am bus to get supplies) He told me a good horse is worth 300USD, although for packing and trekking his mule, Chocolate, is better. He talked about how he usually goes to bed at 6pm and gets up at 3 am every day. He owns three plots of land, one down by the lagoon, the one his house is on, and another one out in the country. His wife works as part of a humanitarian sponsored well dig, because Quilotoa has no water (it is too high). He has six kids (from 6 to 20) he is 44 years old. Four kids live with him and two are away in Baños studying school (school in the area only goes until 6th year).
In any case it was very interesting. The whole family was in by the fire (it gets dang cold up there at night) his wife knitting and his kids playing. His son really liked the Canadian money, and we are kicking ourselves that we only brought a quarter, penny, dime and a twenty dollar bill. They were really interested to learn that our 20 is worth less than the USD 20.
The family doesn´t have enough beds, so I think they usually sleep in the beds they have for tourists. Manuel asked us if his wife could sleep in one and we didn´t mind. He ended up sleeping there with one of his kids and his wife. They must have been tired staying up with us because they were snoring within seconds.
1 comment:
yay for photos!
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