Dollars and No Sense
20 September 2005 (Tuesday) – Otavalo, Ecuador
Otavalo is famous for its markets, especially its Saturday markets. There are apparently a handful of markets going on at the same time then, the livestock market, the produce market, etc… but the one that is of more interest to tourists would be the one at Plaza de Los Ponchos where touristy stuffs are sold.
Actually, there is a market at Plaza de Los Ponchos everyday, perhaps with slightly fewer stalls, but still there were a lot of things to see. Tourists can more or less browse in peace and perhaps, with business being slower, some bargains can be obtained. I am here now on a Tuesday, and truly, the market is just calm and relaxed. I have no idea what to expect on a Saturday. Perhaps, I would stay and watch.
Gosh, the number of woolly things on sale was incredible!!! There were tonnes and tonnes of warm woolly sweaters, very colourful and of various designs. There were lovely tapestries for wall hangings and carpets. There were bags, shoes, scarves, hats, gloves, hammocks, pants, trinkets, jade items… I love colours, and to be released to a colourful market like this was just asking for trouble!
I knew I would be here for a couple more days, so there was no need to rush into buying anything now. But, my goodness, within 1 hour, I spent US$25 on 2 bags, a pair of jade bookends and a small rug. Within 1 damn hour!!!!
Ecuador has been using the US dollars for 5 years now. In a way, it made working out my expenditure each day easier. Say, my daily budget is US$20 and I have already spent US$25 on shopping, that means… it means… I am a very bad girl! OK, perhaps another example, say, my daily budget is US$20 and US$8 goes to accommodation, US$x goes to internet, US$y goes to transport / museum / ice-cream / other very important things, that means I have US$ (20 – 8 – x – y) [how’s your algebra?] for food.
Using US dollars may also have made things more expensive as I believe many prices were just rounded up after the conversion. And hopeless me, I found that I COULD NOT THINK in US dollars here in Ecuador! I don’t understand it! Everytime I see something, I had to CONVERT the price to Colombian pesos just to see if it was cheaper or more expensive than in Colombia. Does it make sense??? When I was in Colombia, I was converting the prices to US dollars to figure out what the real value was. Sheesh, n-e-e-d m-o-r-e b-r-a-i-n f-o-o-d!
However, there were a few places with cheap food that I had tried… like a gigantic slice of very good pizza and a glass of cola for US$1, or even a lunch at the produce market with soup, rice, meat, salad and a drink for US$1. Hmmm… I also noticed I had to say ‘good-bye’ to fruit juice and ‘hello’ to cola. Well, indeed, colas (gassy drinks) exist everywhere, but since Brazil, I always had the option of fruit juices, which I nearly always order. But, no such luck now. From here on, the people seem to prefer gassy drinks.
The Otavaleños group is actually a highly successful Andean indigenous group. They used their excellent skills at weaving to come up with these amazing and beautiful woolly items, and they had the business sense to trade and market them all over. In fact, I believe other Andean indigenous groups are using the Otavaleños as examples for the marketing and preserving of their crafts.
The Otavaleños are a proud and united people. The men mostly keep their hair long, tied up in a pony-tail or in plaits and they wear a black hat. Most of the women wear the traditional costume, which is a white blouse with lacy collar and sleeves, and some coloured flowery embroideries, a dark black or blue warp-skirt which is at ankle-length and held tight with a colourfully weaved belt, under the dark skirt there is another white skirt. Often, they wear a black wrap across their shoulder, covering the details in the front and back of the white blouse and lots of gold-beaded necklaces. Sometimes, they wear shorter pleated skirt (between knee and ankle). And a few, usually older, ladies actually put or wrap a dark black or blue felt cloth on their heads. Wow, I really find them very beautiful, especially the children with their round lovely eyes, and the very handsome men. I could not help staring at them. I think I might have been a little rude, but hey, it was my first day in Ecuador. Everything was still a surprise to me! They were also staring at me… however, unsmilingly.
Anyway, I walked all over the town today. Besides the huge market at Plaza de Los Ponchos, there are shops all over selling similar items. Gosh, some Otavaleños must be working very damn hard to churn out the immense number of sweaters and tapestries that were stacked from floor to near-ceiling at some of these shops!
I was having lunch at the produce market when the electricity got cut. And it was til evening, as I passed various very dark shops, when I realised the electricity still had not returned. I headed to a nearby chifa (Chinese restaurant) for a candle-light dinner. The minute I tasted the food, I knew the cook is a Chinese! No doubt about it. The other Chinese food I had eaten since I entered Venezuela were all fake. Very good food here indeed, although I could not really see what I was eating.
Sometimes, I am thankful that I am Chinese. Coz if I miss Chinese food, there is still a chance of finding it somewhere, with some hard work, but they are available. I think the other ‘luckier’ people would be the Italians, no?, coz pizzas are found everywhere as well. Imagine, if I were a… say… Mongolian and I am craving for some boiled mutton and horse milk. Now, where am I going to find those?!
Tags: 07) Crossing Ecuador Line, Otavalo
swesn
September 21st, 2005 at 9:45 pm
Omg! US$25 in an hour!! Bet you have arrived in a shoppers’ paradise! I assure you there are more stuff to make your purse lighter! Each region of Ecuador has got its own specialty crafts, and you have only began in Otavalo!
Only if some help can arrive in the form of a DBS/POSB ATM at Otavalo.
Chinese food in Quito is not bad either. Authentic stuff by folks from China. You should ask to speak to the cook/owner and get him/her to dish out your fav dishes. Else they would just offer you standard chaulafan (fried rice).