On Saturday we headed north for the town of Otovalo and Cotocachi. Sue and I rode with Graciela and Rodrigo, her boyfriend, while in two other cars there were her parents, two older brothers, Esteban and Jorge, and her older sister Cati. This was a drive that took us along the Pan American highway through scenery that was similar to the drive south to Cotopaxi. The highway meandered through valleys and mountain passes with some incredible views along the way. Close to Otovalo we passed Imbabura, a large volcano with an equally large lake, Lago de San Pablo, wrapped around some of its base.
Otovalo is the place to be on Saturday for the open markets. Crafts, clothing, food, you name it - can be found as you wander the streets of this town. We bought some interesting things to take back as well as some practical things like Alpaca (wool-like) sweaters, and the obligatory t-shirts. I am always on the lookout for a baseball hat and oddly the only baseball hats I saw were emblazoned with U.S. Big 10 college/university names.
This was the ultimate (at least at this latitude) 'shop til you drop' environment. You could bargain with the vendors, and having Graciela along proved to be a great benefit as she negotiated prices that were already good to even better ones. Come on down! The price is right!!
As much fun as we had in buying stuff, having an opportunity to see some of the variety in the types of Ecuadoran people really added to the day. The variations ranged from skin color to physical size, and each culture had its own unique style of clothes based on what part of Ecuador they were from.
Following the shopping spree in Otovalo we all headed back north a few kilometers to a pleasant small resort called Laguna Lago. It was situated on the west side of the lake across from the volcano Imbabura. We had a great lunch there - gathering energy for part two of the shopping experience!
After lunch we drove further north to the town of Cotocachi. This is the place to go for leather goods. Every store that we saw as we walked along its main street was a leather store. Jorge bought a full-length leather coat for $75.00 and Sue and I picked up some really great buys as well - a backpack, purse and a wallet among other things.
We all headed back to Quito after that and the ride was most interesting as it was dark enough to see stars and the Milky Way from the car. The Southern Cross and the two Centauri stars were easily seen as was Orion as it set. Jupiter, and even the Big Dipper were up, but were a whole lot lower than in Kansas City.