Otavalo is quite famous for its market day from what I’ve read, so today Igot the chance to go see it for myself. It is amazing, just the sheer size of it is overwhelming. There is a regular market that goes everyday taking up a square block, then on Saturday the market branches out down the streets for blocks.
We started in the vegetable/food section and worked our way through to the clothing area.
As you can see though there is a variety of items sold even where the fresh fruit and vegetable vendors are. They are selling everything from hammocks made from incredible colourful fabrics to jewelry, shoes and clothing. It kind of overwhelms the senses to see so much colour and variety, surrounded by the sounds, people and visual stimulation.
The selection of fruits and vegetables is pretty amazing, more than I could have imagined.
For instance can you believe the size of these bean pods? Does that not remind you of the fairy tales told when we were children? Jack and the Beanstock definitely came to mind as we opened one of the pods and I saw the size of the seeds. They were actually quite beautiful, these seeds, smooth and shiny black, more like a stone, than a seed. The seeds are wrapped in something that might remind one of cotton candy or just cotton – you can see a bit of it on the end of one of the seeds in the picture. This is what you eat, and it tastes wonderful. It’s sweet, melting in your mouth just like cotton candy, but better by far. Truly wonderful!!
We bought many different kinds of fruit today, all of which are supposed to be good for the digestion, like papaya and taxo fruit, which is also really good. I just ate it seeds and all after first struggling to get so many seeds out of my mouth and into my hand (no place to just spit them out). This fruit in particular was given to Willak by his shaman before he came to Canada, because it gives the stomach great strength. You can eat garbage after eating this fruit he tells me. I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking to myself, “What does that say about Canada and it’s food”?
As you can see there are many, many seeds in the fruit which is a bit like jelly in consistency. I really enjoyed it, once I gave up on trying to spit the seeds out. I was struck by how many different foods Willak told me we’re good for the stomach or the digestion. He said it is very interesting because the stomach is quite smart, it knows what it needs, taking the nutrition from that part of the food and eliminating the rest. Pretty cool.
The clothing side is truly overwhelming with so many colours lining the sides of the roads, each booth showing similar clothing, but with different embroidery patterns and colours. Also the artisans displaying their different paintings, bowls, carvings and jewelry puts you into sensory overload. The colours are so rich and bright, they make you think of summer warmth and happiness. You just really have to avoid the idea of buying anything that you don’t really need, or you end up with an empty wallet in no time.You do have to watch because a lot of items are now made in China, done to reflect the culture here, but there is a difference in the patterns and colour combinations. Also a shirt I bought today was made in Mexico with an African pattern, sold in Ecuador. I call it my multi-cultural shirt. I really only wanted it because of it’s length (to wear with leggings), something that its pretty much impossible to find for someone as tall as me in this land of “Little People”. ( I mean no disrespect when I say that, it is how they are known).
We came home with several bags, displaying quite a variety of food, all for $20.00 American. Astounding!! This amount of food would have cost me hundreds back home. For example, three papaya cost me $1.00, which I’m sure would not even buy you the seeds in Canada. Everything is a $1.00 at the market, a bag of blueberries, tomatoes, taxo fruit, those amazing beans, and on and on. A wonderful experience that I intend to repeat.
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