Textiles and Beyond

The textile-and-tourist-goods section went on forever as well: rows and rows of weavings, tapestries, seed jewelry, silver, indigenous instruments, pottery, and more sweaters, ponchos, and tableclothes than I have ever seen in my entire life. Tiny woven change-purses sold for 50 cents each - my friend brought five to distribute as gifts when she returned to Holland. Jewelry started at $1 (before the bartering), hand knit alpaca sweaters at $10, and ponchos could be purchased for between $10 to$15. My money flew out of my hands. I bought 2 bracelets of tagua nut (totalling $3), a necklace, a tablecloth for my mom and a smaller one for myself, a poncho, a sweater, and a couple other gifts.








After lunch, my friend and I met up with two other students from the school - one who had come up from her volunteer project to see us for the day, and one who had already done Otavalo and didn't need so much time to shop. The four of us wandered around the market a little longer, and then headed out to see the Laguna de San Pablo, recommended in my Moon Guide as a good place to meander around for a day from town to town. We took a taxi and were dropped off in an small parking lot, empty save for a several stands selling textiles and jewelry, and an old women who came up to us for money. We walked down the highway, and after peering between a few concrete shacks at the lake beyond, we were waved into the backyard by a couple women sitting by the side of the street. We walked between the shacks and came face to face with a slender bull - who looked at us with disinterest and sauntered off to chew his cud. My friend Daan found some sheep to harrass, and we took pictures until the bull noticed us again and started jogging over to say hi.









Moving on, we came across an woman tending her pigs, some boys laying in a field, and a dead dog at the side of the road. When the sky threatened rain, we walked back to our parking lot, prepared to take shelter in the restaurant across the street, and waited for our taxi to return.