Saturday 1/14/17 - Otavalo

After an early breakfast of fried egg sandwiches with French fries and a hot dog, we caught the 7:30 a.m. bus to Otavalo for the Saturday market. The bus stops on the dirt road right in front of the house, and we just made it in time. Shina and Sisa were singing the entire way to Otavalo. It was very cute!

We got off the bus at the terminal and took a taxi to the animal market. We were in search of a pig for Shina's baptism. We walked through a gauntlet of shops selling everything from clothing to grills to animal accessories to get to the actual area where animals are sold.

As we passed a vendor selling CD's, Rosa brought to our attention that the CD that they were playing was actually Antonio's band! I bought a sewing kit from a vendor for $1...a good thing for me to store in the casita in case I ever need it.

We walked through the "area especies menores" (small animals area), and looked at bunnies (some were tiny babies, others looked like they weighed 20 pounds), cuy (guinea pigs; for meat rather than pets), guinea fowl, turkeys, chickens, and baby chicks. It is funny, because as you walk around, you see people carrying rice sacks, and then you notice the sacks start to move because there are live animals inside.

Next we went into the "area de porcinos" (pig area). There were pigs of all sizes and colors. We are basically looking for one large enough to feed the entire village. There were some good candidates, but Antonio was not satisfied. I think they were too expensive. Apparently the pigs in this market have papers for breeding, etc. As Antonio says, "it's complicated." We don't need a pedigreed pig. So he is going to try again to find one in the community for sale.

Antonio and Yupanqui then left. Antonio had been hired to lead a hike around Lago Cuicocha today, and he was taking Yupanqui with him for the first time. We said goodbye to them, and then walked up to the brand new market, Mercado 24 de Mayo. The place was huge, with hundreds of indoor stalls. Upstairs there was a food court where people could purchase and eat local fare. There was also a large central courtyard with a stage and seating area. And beneath the building is a massive parking garage. We wandered around the first floor looking for baptism clothes for Shina. We didn't find anything appropriate, but we did buy some jeans for the kids and a little school backpack for Shina.

We bought some meat and vegetables and then walked toward the center of town to do some more shopping. Sisa held Shina's hand as we walked through streets crowded with vendors and pedestrians. We went into some clothing stores which specialized in traditional Otavalan attire. We found a fancy white on white embroidered blouse for Shina, and also an adorable veil.

Back out on the street, we bought shoes for Yupanqui and Shina, and dresses for Sisa and Shina.

The kids seemed to eat non-stop while on this outing, enjoying ice cream cones, ice pops, and a candy apple (the most sticky foods available were a questionable choice when on a mission to try on clothes). Not having kids of our own, we are always amazed (and amused) by the messiness factor of the kids' preferred treats when out and about.

While we were waiting outside of the supermarket for Rosa and the girls, an elderly indigenous man approached Craig, greeted him, and compared walking canes with him. The man had a nicely carved wooden cane, and Craig remarked in Spanish how much nicer the man's cane is than his generic aluminum model. The man laughed and they shared a nice moment.

It was sunny and hot this morning, and by the time we were done with all of our shopping (12:30 p.m.), we were overheated and exhausted. We had so much to carry that we didn't want to deal with waiting for a bus, so we took a cab directly home. It was very much worth the $8 it cost. On the ride, Sisa dropped her candy apple onto the taxi cab floor, and then proceeded to eat it.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, it started to rain. What perfect timing! We unloaded all of our puchases, and the girls immediately changed into their new dresses (not such a great idea since we had spaghetti with meat sauce for lunch and there was inevitable spillage). But they were really enjoying them, running around the house, spinning around and making their skirts flare out.

As it commenced to pour down rain (will Craig's socks and underwear on the clothesline ever dry?!), we took a little siesta in our casita. All of this activity before I would normally even be out of work for the day!

For dinner we had soup, beef, melloco, rice, and juice.

Tonight we were hoping to watch the New England Patriots (our home American football team) in their playoff game via the magic of DVR's and VPN. We went upstairs with my laptop and got set up to watch the game. It turned out that we couldn't watch our game remotely via our DVR (even with VPN) because the NFL doesn't allow it. But we were able to follow the game in more or less real-time online, and the Patriots won!
Yupanqui

Yupanqui

Otavalo animal market

Otavalo animal market

Achi Mama, Sisa, and Shina

Achi Mama, Sisa, and Shina

Shina and Sisa model their new dresses

Shina and Sisa model their new dresses

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