At 7am we started our day with a rough but exciting wake up call to let us know that we had 30 minutes until breakfast was ready. Rolling outta bed, I slowly got ready for the day. Breakfast was part Ecuadorian part American, in my opinion: homemade rolls of bread with butter & marmalade spread with eggs and ham. I had my first taste of Ecuador with pretty thick fruity juice made with papaya. It was sweet and a little familiar to me too. After breakfast we had a short orientation about CEDEI and then we were off to explore the market in the centro of Otavalo. Once we began walking down to the market I was in a sensory overload with not only the beautiful items we could purchase but the culture in Otavalo. The way people dressed was so different to me but also interesting. There was so much culture in each piece of clothing, so much detail, you knew it was hand-made.
Being a tourist, we are automatically programmed to want to take pictures of everything we see. As we walked up and down and around in circles of the market I took pictures of structures to food to hand-made items for purchase. A part of me made me feel guilty photographing the otevalenos but with each person you saw on the street you knew each on had a different story to tell.
After exploring every alpaca-made scarf, sweater, pancho & blanket shop and even seen why some of my friends have become vegetarians or opted to no longer eat meat, I quickly learned why. We made our way back to the hotel to get some suggestions on local restaurants with good food. Lunch was a little interesting, we had a chicken broth soup with a potato ball and odds and ends of a chicken, like a foot...although it was strange, it was very delicious. But I definitely did not eat the foot, I don't think I could be that adventurous on the first day. Since lunch is the biggest mean for ecuatorianos I was hit with another plate for lunch. This one I was a little more accustom too, white rice (w/o salt), white beans and fried chicken and a side salad plus a white juice that was made of Quaker & a spice. All for $2!
After dinner we made out way back to the hotel and then pilled onto our motorbus and headed to Cuicocha where we got to either hike the mountain for 30 minutes to see the island for free or take a boat ride for $2.75 around the island for 45 minutes. If you knew me, I really dislike strenuous activity and in the moment hiking = strenuous activity. So the boat ride it was. After the boat ride we bused Peguche and visited two textile workshops: Mindala Workshop & Andean Instrument Workshop.
The Mindala Workshop was where we met a man and his father who used different techniques, but primarily the traditional weaving technique of making scarves, blankets, bags/purses, bracelets, & clothes. The clothes the women wore are specific to their community and very distinct. Each are pretty similar, maybe they share the same jewelry or small detailed design. He also showed us the many different instruments that are specific to Ecuador and then those to other South American countries.
The Andean Instrument Workshop was was probably my favorite one, we got to see how the instruments are actually made, well just the Ecuadorian flute. Which is made from a particular bamboo that's grown in Ecuador. Afterwards we got a small concert where two people played a tradition Ecuadorian song.
