Otavalo: Market

OTAVALO

They say this is the biggest market in South America and im definitly not going to argue.
its a labyrinth of handcrafted color and beauty to lose yourself in for hours... and i did. literally got lost hehehe. the market runs every day but on saturday it covers the entire town of otavalo. The Otavaleños themselves are a gentle people, very proud of their culture , language , way of dress and way of life. not to metion very creative, entrepreneurial and hard working and sometimes chancers hehehe , this place is more than i ever expected.









this is the kind of clothes you see on all of the Otavaleña women.

made her laugh, camera was on wrong setting though, second smile was still nice .

couldnt refuse this girl, i baught two bracelets even though i have zero use for such things.

ops, didnt notice freak in the background.

bird massacre




baby finally looked at camera hehe.


Its perfectly normal to go around with a jumper on your head in otavalo.






Cuicocha .. "lake of god"

Otavleña woman demosntrates how they make the fabrics.

Preparing the wool.

Various natural stuff is used for the color, such as plants,fruit and other things i have no idea what they are.


then its all woven together on these machines which are operated mechanically by your feet or hands. this is normally the mans job but this woman learned it as she had no brothers. her children are now learning it bit by bit. no templates are used, its all done straight from the imagination of the artist themselves.

Otavaleño family playing traditional music of Ecuador,Peru & Bolivia.