Colorful Farm Animals
by: Jean Warren
Pink pig, pink pig rolling around, in the mud on the ground.
Red rooster, red rooster strutting around, pecking at seeds lying on the ground.
Black cow, black cow walking around, eating green grass on the ground.
Yellow duck, yellow duck, waddling around, eating juicy worms crawling on the ground.
Brown horse, brown horse galloping around, eating oats and hay lying on the ground.
As I mentioned in my last blog, we stopped at Rosadex on our way to an overnight stay in the town of Otavalo. The thing that Otavalo is most known for is the crafts market which is huge. Ecuadorians are known for their weaving, blankets, tapestries, rugs, pillow covers and so much more. But, before we headed to the crafts market (which is HUGE, by the way) we headed to the animal market ... yes, I said ANIMAL market! This is a market where the indigenous people purchase their farm animals to either eat, use to build their own flocks to sell or ??? It was truly the most ethnic experience I've ever witnessed. Never before have I been to an animal market where people are selling pigs, roosters, cows, duck, goats, guinea pigs, and more. It was fascinating.
Well cover the pigs first. We're just walking up to the enclosed animal sales area and right on the street here's a guy hawking his hog.
Do you feel like you're in hog heaven now?
How about this nice spotted piggy?
As you can see, lots and lots of piggies for sale!
Here a rooster, there a chicken, everywhere roosters and chickens! Yes, they're all ALIVE ... that's just the way they carry them around to sell them.
There are crates and crates of chickens. Everywhere in our travels around the countryside and rural areas everyone had chickens. They are an Ecuadorian staple; a household must have. Most of them I think were for egg producing.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!
Not only can you buy fully mature chickens and roosters, but they have the babies for sale as well. There were crates and crates of these too.
With a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there ... here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo-moo!
It was difficult to get a picture of all the cows because they were inside a fenced off area. I guess they were more likely to run off and escape! Except those two young ones above.
Yellow duck, yellow duck waddling around ... I really like this duck/turkey combo ... are you thinking what I'm thinking? Terducken?
And you get a great shot of some indigenous people and their outfits.
White ducks, white ducks wheel barrowing around!
And just like the chickens, you can get baby ducks as well.
We didn't see any horses for sale, but we lots of sheep and goats. Bah, bah black sheep, have you any wool? These guys are wooly enough to answer, "Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full!"
The goats lined one whole fence. Goats not only do a great job keeping the grass/weeds cut down, but they also provide milk and cheese.
Your back can be used to carry just about anything. Check out these creative carries ...
Puppies
Sheep
Babies (Erica is to the right of the woman carrying the baby).
And last, but not least, the traditional backpack! Michael is also carrying Malin.
If you're not interested in purchasing an animal or two for the farm, how about some candy? The wheelbarrow makes a handy conveyance.
Or, you could be in the market for some handy-dandy hardware.
This gives you a good view looking down one of the vendor alleyways in the animal market. So much stuff for sale ... why limit yourself to just animals???
I took these next shots to give you a glimpse into the clothing worn by the indigenous Ecuadorians.
Even here, in the rural area of Otavalo, Toyota is front and center ...
this one is for all you Toyota-ites!
Here's Erica and he girls, posing for Grammy!
Right next to the animal market are the food vendors. Wouldn't the U.S. inspectors have a field day with that??? Not to mention everything is out in the open, not refrigerated! Oh, we just have no idea. Doesn't this pig look inviting?
Michael did buy something that they really like. I was too worried to eat it so I left it alone.
Otavalo
Otavalo is largely an indigenous town in Ecuador. The town has about 90,000 inhabitants and is surrounded by three volcano peaks: Imbabura (15,190 ft.), Cotacachi (16,388 ft.) and Mojanda (13,986 ft.) Otavalo has been an Andean crossroads since pre-Inca times when jungle traders would journey here on foot. Today's market is a hyperbolic version of the same tradition: buses arrive from Quito delivering droves of visitors from around the globe.
The indigenous people mostly live in nearby villages and dress primarily in traditional attire. Men wear dark felt hats, short cotton pants, blue ponchos and long ponytails. Women braid their hair and wear frilly, embroidered white blouses, long black skirts, fachalinas (headcloths) and bright layered necklaces.
Otavalenos receive international recognition for their weaving and craftsmanship, but their achievement has been the result of centuries of hardship. Exploited first by colonialists and then the sweatshops of Ecuadorian landowners, this population fund a possibility to prosper for itself only after the Agrarian Reform of 1964. That success is relative; even today a number of artisans live on a meager income and struggle to profit from their weavings and crafts in a system where only intermediaries can bring merchandise to market.
Otavalenos are the wealthiest and most commercially successful indigenous in Ecuador--a status which translates to owning hotels and Ford Rangers and having an indigenous mayor. This juxtaposition of savvy and tradition may seem like a contradiction but in reality it illuminates how marginalized the rest of Latin America's native populations are in comparison.
The streets of Otavalo.
As I mentioned before, the indigenous Otavalenos are famous for weaving textiles, usually made of wool and then sold at the famous Saturday market. Although the largest market is on Saturday, local shops sell handmade blankets, tablecloths and much more during the week.
The market consists of ninety mushroom-shaped concrete umbrellas with benches. During the market's peak, almost one-third of the town becomes full of stalls selling textiles, tagua nut jewelry, musical instruments, dream catchers, leather goods, fake shrunken heads, indigenous costumes, hand-painted platters and trays, purses, clothing, spices, raw foods and spools of wool.
Ecuadorians love color and you'll see lots of colorful textiles in these photos.
Here's that little cute-as-a-button granddaughter, Malin.
Here's Romy wearing Grandpa's hat and ...
here's Romy wearing Grammy's sunglasses!
Here's where we had lunch. Michael is on the right.
Here we are with our "stash".
This is a close-up of the amazing, thick, warm blanket and the two pillow covers we bought. We've both used the blanket when we've been relegated to the living room because of being sick and it is thick and warm. It is also at least a queen-size blanket which is why I bought this one ... well one of the reasons I bought this specific blanket. First, I was immediately attracted to the colors, second, it was at least twice as thick as all the other blankets, and third, its size was larger than most of the other blankets. I was so happy when I found the pillow covers which match perfectly and these are all sitting on the RV living room couch.
Gary really "went for it" and bought a Panama hat. This is not one of the expensive ones with the really, really tight weave, but he got a great hat for only $10 and he sure looks sharp in it!
Leviticus 22:26-28
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the LORD.
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