Markets, my fav places!!!

While waiting for sal to arrive in Quito i decided to head up to the town of Otovalo for a night to visit one of the most important markets in south america. Where in the old times the ppl from the amazon traded with ppl from other countries. Today is mostly tourist stuff like ponchos, armadillo guitars, panamar hats(they are made in ecuador) alpaca wool beanies and so on. but one of the reasons to spend a night there was to get up early to watch the animal market in action. i knew i was heading in the right direction as i followed to men walking their pigs along the streets, pigs dont much like to be walked thou so it was more like men dragging theirs newly purchased pigs along the streets!! cows, bulls, horses, mules, sheep, goats, chickens and even a boar were for sale, i asked a man how much his pig cost (those spanish lessons in quito giving me that extra confidence and all) because his pig was the biggest and best looking (how do you really tell with a pig anyway) this one was huge probaly weighing in at about 150kgs, and it costs a mere $300us dollars, i didnt bargin, but i didnt buy it either, my backpack is quite full as it is from buying scarfes, gloves and beanies to deal with the cold weather!!

bull

anyway a lot of fun was had at teh market some of the amazing sight that i saw included

chicken soup

a old man putting his pig into a bag then over his shoulder and heading off home!! bucket loads of de feathered chickens sitting in the sun ready for sale, whole roasted pigs ready to be eaten(looked good actually), a lady cooking cuy, guina pig(not so bad intill you see that it come whole with scary face included) ladys with their traditional bowler hats on that look really cool, almost brought one, a little hard to carry around thou. What else, oh yeah ladys with their babys in slings over their backs, too many things that opened my eyes up to mention. can not wait for the next market thats what i say!!!

early morning madness

fruity

gift horse

meat

not a pig

wow

yum