A Party and a Market

Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22 and 23, 2017--Ibarri and Otavalo

Friday was a day to explore locally--churches, plazas, and the local museum.  After a lazy morning with a late breakfast in my apartment, I headed out.  I stopped at a restaurant around 14:00 operated by two ladies in native costume who were friendly and happy.  I had potato-cheese soup, sausage, fried egg, cabbage salad, mashed potatoes, and juice.

Friday night my landlady and I walked over to her ex-husband's house--an ultra modern home.  Once a month he and his present wife have a social event on their huge glass-covered patio.  For a $15 cover charge, they provide food, all the craft beer (from his brewery) you can drink, and live music.  The food was a huge pan of scrambled eggs, hominy, cream, herbs, and spices.  He had 6 kinds of beer.  My favorite was made from prickly pear (cactus) fruit that tasted a lot like an IPA beer.  The worst was made with lime, salt, and jalapenos.  It was far too salty and didn't really have a beer taste.  Another I liked that had a good taste was made from figs.

There were several people there who spoke English.  I visited with a female professor fom Spain and her date who is Ecuadorian of Japanese descent, a German man who is a butcher making German sausages and is married to a local woman, a Brazilian man who is a software specialist assigned here, the owner of the house who was born here of Swiss descent and who gave me a tour of his micro-brewery, and others.  I returned home at midnight with the party still going strong.

This morning I was up early to catch a bus to Otavalo.  It is a nearby city that has one of the two largest ethnic markets in South America.  A major plaza is filled with stalls, and they continue down streets for at least a block in all directions.

The market is known for its weavings.  There are many, too.  But most stalls sell many things which gave me the impression that they probably don't make their merchandise themselves.

Ethnic weavings always make me want to look for drink coasters, because they would be light for packing and would make useful gifts.  But the people doing the weavings are never aware of such an item.  I was able to explain to two vendors the idea, and if they make them I feel sure that they will sell.  I told them I would buy 60 of them if they had them today.  Instead, I bought nothing.  But I enjoyed seeing everything and watching people (huge numbers in ethnic garb both Manning booths and in town to shop for the day).