Saquisili Market
29 September 2005 (Thursday) – Quito to Latacunga to Saquisili to Latacunga, Ecuador
Last night, as I was packing, I happened to leaf through my guidebook and it dawned on me that the next day – today – is a Thursday and a small town called Saquisili has a famous market every Thursday, and it is just 30 minutes from Latacunga. Just perfect! I just need to leave Quito as early as possible to make it to the Saquisili market.
I stole out of the apartment of Joshua and gang before 6am, hopefully, as quiet as a mouse, and caught the Trole (trolley) to Cumanda to get to the bus terminal. I was on the bus by 6:30am. The ride from Quito to Latacunga, according to the guidebook, is supposed to be amazing on a clear day, where one is able to see up to 10 peaks of Ecuador. Today is such a day and I managed to see Pichincha, Rucu Pichincha and the other mountain to their left which was entirely snowed in due to yesterday’s freezing weather. I also saw the brilliant-looking Cotopaxi and several other peaks that I had no idea what their names were. But I soon fell right asleep on the bus.
When we reached Latacunga, the kindly bus-driver drove me to within a few blocks of my intended hotel. That was very nice of him. Latacunga is not a very interesting place, but it is great to use it as a base to do excursions around this region. It is in the path of Volcano Cotopaxi, however, and for 3 times in the 1700s and 1800s, it had been thoroughly destroyed by the eruptions of Volcano Cotopaxi. The authorities nevertheless rebuilt the city 3 times, always in the same spot. Not very bright of them. So, the place no longer has any colonial flavour. Anyway, great to see Cotopaxi again.
By 9am or so, I had caught a bus to Saquisili. There were many villagers climbing onto the bus. Many of them were carrying empty baskets. When we arrived, I thought I could follow some of these villagers to the market area but they all dispersed themselves in various directions. I followed a couple of tourists for a while until we came upon the plaza. They carried on in one direction, but when I asked a local nearby where the market was, he pointed out another direction to me.
Indeed, several Indian women were lugging heavy sacks of whatever on their backs towards that direction so I followed suit. Wow, when I came upon the market, I was absolutely delighted! Gosh, the amazing colours everywhere!! The Indians from this region wore clothes which were much more colourful than the Otavaleños whom I had seen previously.
The most distinct thing worn by both men and women must be their clever little pinched hat, with the short-brim and occasionally, with a feather attached to it. The men keep their hair short, and they are mostly in regular modern clothes, but quite a number of them wear striped ponchos that were like rainbows. The women are mostly in traditional attire. The tops can be anything, usually regular blouses with regular sweaters. But the skirts, wow… OK, some wear dull-coloured old-fashioned skirts that came up to the knees. But, many others wear pleated skirts, some velvet, many with amazing embroideries or glittering effect. They usually wear white or dull-coloured socks that came up to the knees. Then, they wrap themselves up in the brightest and most colourful knitted shawls – lime green, bright orange, fuchsia, purple, yellow, hot pink, etc… It was such a delight to see the amazing clash of contrasting colours, worn so casually by the locals. They are mostly from the Andean region to the west of Lataguna, from villages like Zumbahua, Quilotoa, Chugchilan, etc… But today, they were all converged here for the Saquisili market.
I spent a good hour wandering around the market, where hens, maizes, fruits, vegetables, household goods were sold. I was constantly looking at the people and their interesting outfits, observing their buying and bargaining skills. I was thorougly enchanted, I possibly had a small smile on my face the whole time.
I came across some hornado de cerdo. This was a whole pig being cooked over fire, thoroughly crisping the skin. They usually display the dish with the whole head of the pig staring at you. Very ‘Lord of The Flies’. I had seen this dish since Pasto in Colombia. I had to try it, Ismael kept telling me how delicious it is. But I guess, he had a special place in mind. Not in a market in Saquisili! But I ordered a plate anyway. Wow, it was very delicious, I think, rather fatty, considering I also ate the skin of the pig, but who cares… it was amazing. Now, I wait for possible diarrhoea.
After a while, I slowly returned to the plaza. There, I spotted other tourists. Funny, during the time at the market, I had not seen one single tourist. And I had expected to see other tourists in the market because Ecuador is a rather touristy country, and markets such as this were described in the guidebooks, which I am sure, meant other tourists would make the trip here. But these tourists seemed to be coming from another direction, all with little bags of touristy goods.
Oh. It then dawned on me that perhaps, there was ANOTHER market down the other road where the other two tourists had disappeared to this morning. I strolled there for a look. Well, there indeed was another market, but it was not as interesting and colourful as the one I saw and there was a section that sold touristy items. No wonder, the tourists were here, and not there. But hey, I had a more delightful time back at the produce market.
As I paused outside a shop to drink a bottle of Sprite (so that I could return the glass bottle), there was a commotion nearby. Apparently, a man had upset a table with a sort of cream snack being sold by a woman. She was hurling abuses at him now, demanding US$10 compensation. The curious crowd gathered to watch. The woman grabbed the guy and tried to march him to the police. The crowd followed. Later, they returned again, with the woman still yelling and screaming and the crowd dutifully returned to watch as well. Meanwhile, some ladies around me were muttering that US$10 was too much, it was worth perhaps, US$5. Yeah, US$10 was too much. I ended up having a short discussion on this with several of the Indian women. But the woman selling the snack was relentless. Sigh, there was no way the guy could pay up, I think. I wonder how this little village drama would end.
I returned to Latacunga, and as there were tours advertised by my hotel, I made enquiries for the price of a tour to Laguna Quilotoa, which was something I hope to do tomorrow. What??!!? 25 smackers!!! Forget it! I later made my way to the bus station to inquire the time of departure. I would do this trip by myself.
Tags: 07) Crossing Ecuador Line
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