Mercado Madness - August 9-11, 2013

If anyone is heading to northern Ecuador, the thing to do is plan to be there for the Saturday market.  All the villages in the surrounding valleys converge on Otavalo, bringing the usual, and immense, assortment of fruits and vegies, along with the special handicrafts of the region.  While there were a few tourists there, this market seemed to be more about the locals.  We’ve visited the Ocatlan Friday mercado outside of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the famous Saturday Chichicastanango mercado in Guatemala, and yet we never get tired of seeing the vibrant community life enacted before our eyes.  The amount of “stuff” on offer was staggering, from clothes to alpaca ponchos, and everything in between.  For us, this trip to the market was about the food.  By noon, we were stuffed to the gills.  Bunuelos, paella, whole roast pig, every configuration of bread products, it was there and in abundance!

 Tomorrow we make a run for the Colombian border.