Otavalo: At Your Service

So sorry it's been awhile since I've written. We've been pretty busy with trips the past few weekends, the gracious visit of Kane's parents, and law school applications. I'll try to fill you in on the happenings with the abridged version. The last week in October we spent the weekend in the town of Otavalo, perusing the internationally revered artisan market, and catching up with some volunteer friends from Quito who made the trip up north to hang out. Otavalo is a small but lively city about 40 minutes south of Ibarra that has become a likely backpacker's stop on any south american journey. The indigenous residents of otavalo have experienced unprecedented prosperity because they were one of few indigenous groups successful at marketing their culture on an international scale. When you go to those craft fairs at the rosemont horizon or at Septemberfest or in any major US city, there is undoubtedly a booth stocked full of otavaleño crafts and andean music. You've probably heard the signature flutes, harps, and drums. Anyway, only in about the past 10 years have indigenous Ecuadorians been granted all the rights of regular Ecuadorian citizens. But with the indigenous movement, they were also granted privileges that the regular citizens did not have, including more relaxed visa regulations and ease of entry into the U.S. to travel. Now they go to sell their ponchos, hammocks, woven linens, jewelry, and andean music CDS, and they bring back crates of American merchandise like gap and forever 21 clothes, which fetch a considerable profit here. (Needless to say I'll be stocking up on H&M at Christmas.) In this manner indigenous otavaleños have been able to gain some wealth and a lot of power and have even broken into the political scene here. Otavalo is one of few Ecuadorian cities to have an indigenous mayor. Saturday is market day and we really did shop 'til we dropped. I had to have my friend Mike come along because Kane just couldn’t hang. The other boys decided to go drink beer and play checkers with the 70-year old men that you can find in the hole-in-the-wall joint on every corner. The whole experience was pretty great except that we must have searched through over 300 booths of crafts where each and every vendor literally runs up to you saying "a la orden" or "at your service". I mean, come on, could over 300 vendors really be at my service? People were shouting it from across the block. This is especially funny since Ecuador doesnt really have such a thing as our notion of "service", especially not in the hospitality industries. Many times I'll walk into a store or restaurant and my finely tuned Nordstrom customer service mind wants to scream, " Don't you know how much better this business could be if you just humored the clients a little!" But the native people seem unyielding in their quest to make you wait 1 or more hours for your lunch platter, overcharge you when you are not paying attention, or say they carry something to lure you into their store only to find out they dont even come close to having the product you need. They also love giving directions when they have no idea where you are going but that’s a story for another day.If I can find a way to cart all the stuff home, I should have some pretty great X-mas presents for the family. One thing that I did find striking however, was in the midst of a market filled with art and culture, there was remarkably little creativity. I made sure to congratulate the few stands who had found a product they made well, and stuck to it. It seemed like every vendor was selling the same crafts and very few stands specialized in anything in particular. The market was more focused around bartering and which booth would make you a good deal than which booth had the most original products. I have to say that after only 2.5 months here, I am undoubtedly ahead of the bargaining game compared to most gringos who are just passing through. It seems like people really do lower the starting price for you if you drop a hint that you live in Ibarra and are an English professor. At least its good for something.

Later that day we got a taste of home at the Shenandoah Pie Shop (a must stop for anyone passing through) and then went to a super cool live music venue called La Jampa with local andean music acts and lots of cheesy ecua-euro-trash music in between. The whole weekend was a great example of how local (the indigenous otavaleños) and foreign cultures (plentiful in the town and geared towards drawing and pleasing tourists) really can mesh peacefully and can complement each other instead of clash.More to come on Cuenca, Quito (round 2), and after this weekend, the beach town of Atacames.

¡Ciao amores!