Otavalo, Peguche and the Fiesta of San Vincente

From Otavalo and the Cascade de Peguche

Famous for its Saturday market, the largest indigenous market in the country, Otavalo is a market town and the center of indigenous craft making in Ecuador. It lies in a lush valley, about two hours north of Quito by bus, surrounded by small weaving villages. Peguche is one such village near a forest preserve with a waterfall as its centerpiece. Although there is much more to see and do in the area, we had decided to keep our trip simple: a short hike in the morning, followed by a visit to the market for some shopping.

We got up early to take a 7:00 bus to Peguche. As it was early, we walked down the hill to the taxi stand and caught a cab to the Terminal Terrestre. Our driver decided to take the scenic route to the station, milking the meter. Annoyed, we protested and eventually paid the normal price. We got on the bus and after a scenic, two-hour ride through the country, we were dropped off on the Pana (Pan-American Highway) at the cobble stone entrance to the village of Peguche, just north of Otavalo.

We had a hand-drawn map of the area and were told it would take about 40 minutes to reach our destination. Immediately we noticed a change from Quito: everyone in the street wished us “buenas dias.” Following our directions, we walked through the village, listening to the clang and clatter of machine driven looms housed in cement block sheds roofed in corrugated steel. At one such shed, we stopped to take a look inside. Inside of the shed, dripping with wool fiber, two masked men each worked a loom. Thus was laid to rest my perhaps ridiculous suspicion that Ecuadorian textiles were actually made in a huge factory somewhere in Asia.

A short walk up the hill from the weaving sheds led us to the entrance to the forest preserve. We were a bit surprised to have arrived as no more than 20 minutes had gone by since we got off the bus. This experience, coupled with what we had already heard hiking in the mountains, led us the conclusion that Ecuadorians will often grossly overestimate the amount of time it takes to walk between two points on a map.

After donating a small sum at the forest preserve office, we started up the well-maintained trail. The eucalyptus forest was enchanting in the early morning light and mist, as the distant thundering of the waterfall invited us to continue deeper into the woods. A short while later, we came to the absolutely stunning Cascade de Peguche. Crossing a short foot bridge in front of the cascade, we were blasted by a thick mist erupting from the foot of the fall. By the time we turned around to circle back to the village, the preserve had filled with groups of school children who would wave crazily whenever I would take out my camera and giggle and laugh whenever we would pass them on the trail.

From the forest preserve, we hitchhiked into Otavalo. This was especially fun, as we got a tour of the town standing in the bed of a pickup. Plus, the driver was kind enough to take us right into the market, another act of selfless kindness that left us feeling amazed.

We started off at the fruit and vegetable market, which was much the same as the market in Saquisilí. The main difference is that in Otavalo on Saturday, not only are the squares filled with vendors’ stalls, but a large section of the center city is closed to traffic and the streets are also filled with things to buy. Not only are there stalls everywhere, but vendors walk the streets hawking toothbrushes, sponges, and other sundries. After eating fritada in a small cafe for lunch, we headed for the textile market, where we planned on spending the rest of the day.

The Otavalo textile market is famous and for good reason. The selection of goods here cannot be overstated. There are woven and knitted goods of every kind and color. Sweaters, ponchos, hats, mittens, sock, as well as table cloths, tapestries, rugs, shawls and scarves overflow from the stalls. There are also leather goods, beaded jewelry and yarn (alpaca wool $1.00 per skien) in every color imaginable. All the goods are made of wool (alpaca, llama or lamb) cotton or synthetic. Mary and I have begun to suspect that many of the “alpaca” wares are in fact made from synthetic fiber, having burnt small test samples from a number of items we purchased. Still, they may blends, but this I find unlikely.

I also found haggling to be quite fun. Typically, I would offer about 40% of the asking price and would settle near 55% of the asking price. I knew when we we getting close, as they would except my price plus one dollar, asking me, “what is one dollar more? Not much.” They would laugh when I would say in the same pleading tone of voice, “But what is one dollar less? Not much either.” Their laughter I took to be a recognition that haggling was a game, the rules of which I was beginning to understand. I am pretty sure that with practice, I could get better.

After several hours in the market, it began to thunder, which quickly closed things down. We ducked into a bakery with our wares and ate a snack as the rain began to fall. Packing everything into a backpack, we walked to the bus station for the ride back to Quito.

The bus was hot and crowded and as we got closer to Quito, we continued taking on more people, until the row was filled with standing passengers. At one stop, a group of field workers entered the bus. There was a small girl sleeping in the seat next to her father, across from where I sat. The toll collector told the father that he would have to either pay the fare for his daughter, as she was taking up a seat, or hold her in his lap, which would wake her up. The field workers immediately protested to the toll collector, telling him to go away and leave the sleeping girl alone. Even though they had paid their fare and had a right to the seat, they would rather forfeit it than see the girl awoken. There is something really wonderful about being surrounded by such good people.

Back in Quito, we took a cab back to our house. We were surprised to see across the ravine a fiesta in full swing, complete with a Ferris wheel and other rides. After dropping off our things, Mary and I walked up the hill to the bridge and crossed into the barrio of San Vincente de la Casas. We were told that the fiesta was in celebration of San Vincente, the patron saint of the barrio. Young, masked men and people of all ages, all in traditional dress, were dancing to traditional music. There was a hot alcohol sale, if you supplied your own bottle, and lots of fritada and choclo con mote to eat. There was also a bamboo tower of fireworks. Mary and I ran back down the hill for a bottle and to tell Eve what was going on. When we returned, the tower of fireworks was in full swing, shooting sparks and billowing smoke into the crowd of onlookers. This was followed by more dancing and then a procession of the statue of San Vincente himself through the village back to his shrine. Eventually, the band began to parade through the street followed by the dancers. Finally, it began to rain quite hard, which ended the fiesta and so our evening in San Vincente de las Casas.

As it was raining during the fiesta, I unfortunately do not have any photos to share with you. However, if you would like to see a slide show of photos from my trip to Otavalo and Peguche, just go to my Picasa Web Album.