Double Rainbow over the Bus Terminal
I went to Otavalo in search of woolen
liners for the hats and some other product ideas. I arrived in
Otavalo and walked in the completely opposite direction from the
center of town until I asked someone,. When I got off the bus there
was a sign for a market, and I followed it. Turns out it wasn't the
famous crafts market that is well known all around South America. Sometimes you've just gotta ask...
I figured it out and made it back to
the market, I began asking different shops and stalls if they knew of
where I could get specific work done and raw materials. I was pointed
towards the bus station where I was told I would find what I was
looking for. Little did I know, I would find much more.
I wandered my way up a stair case that
was garland with multicolored wool. I had found the right spot. On
the second floor was bags and bags of wool. The owner of the store
sat through my questions about wool in Ecuador. Turns out Ecuador
doesn't hardly produce any alpaca wool and all the alpaca wool items
in the market come from Peru. I was asking him about how I could find
people to work for me when a woman, Luz, who was buying wool told me
that her and her family weaves and that I could come with her. I said
sure and waited until she had made her purchase. I helped bring the
three bags of wool that she bought down to an awaiting taxi truck and
as I was putting it in I saw the most amazing double rainbow. I
commented to her that it was a good luck sign. She said that it was
for both of us. The rest of the evening we kept on repeating it to
one another.
Luz and her ponchos
We arrived at her home and she took me
to a room in the house where two people were working on wooden looms.
She told me that her household was one of three in Otavalo proper
that still weave traditional ponchos on looms. What luck! I spent the
evening explaining what I was in Ecuador doing and what I am hoping
that they can do for me. They were more than willing to weave what
we're looking for. At some point while I was talking with the family
I asked Luz's daughter Lina who is studying tourism where a good
hotel might be. Luz interjected and asked if I was alone. When I told
her that I was she invited me to stay the night at her house.
As were were talking two young Mormon
missionaries arrived. They have been coming to this family for two
weeks and that night was the night that they were going to show the
Luz and her family the church. One of the Missionaries was from Utah,
so we chatted about the USA. I learned that when your on a mission
you can't use the internet, so was totally without contact with the
happenings back in the States. It was very interesting talking to the
missionaries, they firmly believed that they have the one way to god
and did their best to convince me and the family to join the church.
Since I didn't have much to do I decided to join the family and check
the church with them. We spent an hour touring the church, my first
time in a Mormon church, reading passages from the Book of Mormon and
being asked questions about our beliefs. It was definitely not how I
imagined spending my evening but very interesting.
We returned to the house and I got to
meet the rest of the family who were back from work at that time. I
ate dinner with them and turned in for the night, content and happy
to have met such an open and welcoming family.
Miguel rocking the loom
Figuring it out...
The next day I learned how to work the
loom with one of Luz's sons Miguel. We worked on the loom for about
an hour, figured out the prices for the products and then Miguel took
me to a waterfall outside of Otavalo. We had a great time wandering
around the beautiful community park. There were two waterfalls, we ciimbed up above the first and we were able to swim in the pool below the second.
We hitched a ride back to town in the
back of a truck and ate lunch again at the house. Luz sent me away
saying, next time you come back tell us a week in advance so we can
make cuy (guinea pig)!
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