Today we went to Otavalo, a small pueblo about an hour and a half north of Quito, where we explored a huge indigenous market. It was fantastic! There were hundreds of vendors with different kiosks selling all sorts of jewelry, clothing, ornaments, instruments, food, and other things. Most of the indigenous speak both spanish and quichua, their native language, and some even speak english, or at least a little. It was the most natives I had seen in my time here. It was also the most gringos. Many foreign tourists go to Otavalo for good deals. The key to the market though is bartering. Because whenever you ask for a price, it will definitely be inflated. After bartering quite a bit today, I've learned a thing or two about it. First, you can't seem too interested in the item. Sometimes just standing their silently, thinking, lowers the price. Sometimes they will ask you what you want to pay. Even if they don't you have to offer your own price, and it has to be way lower than could actually happen. They will usually reject this price and offer you a different one that is lower. So now you and the vendor each have a choice. Either you can each both keep throwing out prices until you meet in the middle, or one of you can play hardball and basically set a final offer. This can be risky, but can yield some good results.

I bought many things, among them, a new hat! I bought a panama hat, which I wore for the rest of the day! Afterwards we had lunch at another little town, and then went to a final town, with a wonderful view of the mountains, to view a waterfall. All of us climbed up to the top of it and waded into the river to look down from the top of the waterfall. It was beautiful.

It was nice getting out of Quito and seeing some more of Ecuador, the part that isn't the big city, the part that you think of when you think of the country. The pueblo life of these people is enviable. It's very simple and beautiful. But accompanying it is a lot of hard work and poverty.