Otavalo, the weavers and back to Quito

After the disappointment of Cayambe we decided to use the time to visit Otavalo, famous for its markets and it's weavers. We realised we were exhausted from our active holiday and crashed in the hostel for the whole afternoon after wondering around the streets of the village and having a meal serenaded by a life Andean music group.

The loom had been used by generations of weavers in the family

The following day we explored further afield and went to a weavers village 15 mins away by bus. We were really lucky to meet an old man who invited us to see his hand loom. He and his family had been weavers for generations and 4 generations shared what seemed to be a single room. We bought some of his produce and he had so little that had to take it off the loom, that was truly special.

The young woman had to translate into Spanish as the old man mainly spoke Quichua

We also saw some amazing hand woven carpets and had a demo of how to make natural dies from cochineal insects.





Back in Quito we did some site seeing and played at being proper tourists. Here are some of the sights of this nice city.

Towards the Plaza Grande

La Basilica

Near our Hostel