El Mercado

Yesterday I went to el mercado [the market] in Otavalo. It was so crazy and huge and I thoroughly enjoyed buying an unreasonable amount of things. The market was full or row after row of stands and each vendor is willing to compromise on their prices. I [of course] looking as American as can be was given the initial gringo price but I got good at giving them a blank stare and not saying anything for about 30 seconds then the price would go down. I think I'm quite the bargainer after that experience.

I absolutely fell in love with woodwork at the market. So many vendors hand carved masks, animals and any kid of design in wood. All of the wood art I saw was $20 and under. It's also very light weight so I might be able to lug a bunch home with me. The second most interesting thing at the market was the clothing made from alpaca hair. If you even said the word alpaca while walking through the aisles, a vendor would pop through a wall of clothing and say "ALPACA!!!, YO TENGO ALPACA!!" [yo tengo means "I have"]. I found a beautiful sweater for $22 then $18 then $17 and the lady wouldn't go down to $15 so I left. I'll try to find one for $15 on my next trip [if I have room in my luggage...].

I also found a pair of fake Armani sunglasses for $5. It's hard to tell if a lot of stuff here is knock-off or "fell of the truck" stuff because they are really good at copying logos and the material seems of pretty good quality. The people were really nice at the market as well. There were a bunch of local people around [more p.c. way of saying indigenous] and a lot of street performers. I almost bought this cute Halloween decoration for Lurr and Trey that looked like a goblin but it was $30, sorry guys. The man did offer it to me for free if I went out dancing with him but I had to respectfully decline [he was creepy looking].

I can't say the rest of the things I bought because they're presents for everyone who reads this blog :) I did buy myself a peace sign bag that I'm obsessed with. I'll post a pic so you all can see!

I was going to start my ecology observations today but my partner had to study for a big exam that he has tomorrow so we'll push it back another week. I'm not complaining though because bird watching starting at 6am and ending at 5pm is not my ideal Sunday itinerary.

Mom, you would love Ruth. Today she tactfully showed me where the nail polish remover was so I could take off my chipped nail polish... hahaha

I'll post pics later, the blog is being stupid right now.

PS- I think I have eaten my weight in mangos this week