Shopping and the Census

The whole point of leaving Cuenca over a week in advance of our flight back home was for us to be able to attend the Saturday market in Otavalo. An indigenous town about 2 hours north of Quito, Otavalo is famous for its artesans. Its market is one of the largest in all of South America, and Saturday is the big day. Now, it must be said that Quito is a fairly large and difficult city to navigate in an automobile. The city is one large, uninterrupted mass that stretches probably 25-30 miles from north to south. Needless to say, I was a little worried about getting lost once we decided to drive our car to Giovanni’s house from Toachi. When we asked Giovanni for directions to the Panamericana Norte, however, his answer couldn’t have been simpler. All we had to do was get on the big road one block over from his house and drive until it meets the highway. Whew!

So, after enjoying a nice breakfast, we hit the road around 8:00 AM. We stopped to buy fruits called chirimoyas from one of the many ladies along the road, and we pulled into town just before 10:00 AM. The market was definitely in full swing. Even with living in Cuenca, I don’t think Chelsea and I had seen so many white people since August! We quickly went into bargaining mode, because you should never take the first price someone offers you at a market. We wheeled and dealed, picking up items which you aren’t allowed to know about yet. In the space of two and a half hours, we had crossed most things off of our shopping list. One vendor even gave us a large bag so we could consolidate our little bags, and we were surprised to find that our purchases practically filled it up! We took our huge bag back to our car and then sat down for some lunch.

With legs rested and tummies full, we returned for a little bit more. Shopping in this setting is always easier when you don’t really need anything that you’re looking at. The vendors always want to sell, but they’re pretty good at noticing when they can stick to a price because you want something really bad. Looking disinterested and walking away are the two best techniques for getting prices to fall sharply, but it’s hard to look disinterested over something you came to the market knowing you wanted to buy. Following our lunch, however, we took our disinterestedness to a new level because we didn’t have to fake it. I prefer not to stop and look at things unless if I’m considering buying, but Chelsea likes to stop and smell the roses, if you will. She had people calling after her, asking her what her price was for this or that. She also used the walk-away technique to perfection when she got a guy to drop from $12 to $7 for a certain item. He had previously been offering us 2 for $18 or 3 for $24, but she got us 1 for $7. This was quite impressive to me given that cheapness is something of a family tradition in honor of my great-grandfather.

After completing our shopping spree, we took a few pictures around town just as it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle shortly turned into a downpour, so we waited it out from the safety of the Lead Bullet (pushing the nickname again). We made a reservation for a hotel in a nearby village where I stayed during my medical program in February. The drive over was interesting due to the road resembling a shallow pond, but our ridiculously expensive all-terrain tires acquitted themselves well. Much like Mazan, the hotel’s electricity and water appear to be very sensitive to the rain. There was no power when we arrived, but we enjoyed sitting outside and listening to the birds (albeit was pretty chilly). We headed up to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner around 6:30, but they informed us that the chef wouldn’t be arriving until 7:30. No big deal, this is Ecuador. We sat down next to a glorious fire and ordered hot chocolate. While savoring those, the hotel’s volunteer struck up a conversation with us. At one point he mentioned their local cane alcohol drink that is served warm, noting that it is made with mora. Chelsea expressed interest in comparing it to the canelazo of Cuenca, and a few minutes later the volunteer returned with two complimentary glasses for us. For the cold, he said. The chef did eventually arrive, and we enjoyed two very nice dinners before heading to bed.

We knew Sunday was going to be interesting in its own special way, because it was the day for the 2010 Census in Ecuador. Since they don’t really use the mail, sending out questionnaires for everyone to complete and return wouldn’t really work. Especially since a lot of people have address like, “in the corner behind the school” or, “up the mountain at kilometer 8 on the road to Cajas” (sound familiar?). In order to combat this logistical hurdle, the brilliant government of Ecuador decided to enact an “Immobility Law” from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The law is basically self-explanatory: according to the government, you’re not allowed to leave your house, or hotel, during the stated hours. Honestly, they expected people who paid money to visit this country to sit around inside all day long even though they don’t have anything to do with the Census. Poppycock, I say.

So, we went to the restaurant for breakfast at 9:30, hoping to eat enough food to last us most of the day. This hotel had a wonderful buffet breakfast with pancakes when I stayed in February, but, of course, the chef wasn’t there to prepare it. The guy running the place told us something to the effect that they were closed for the Census, but they could get us one of the smaller breakfasts on the menu. Okay, better than nothing. Once we finished up, we asked our host what they could offer us for lunch. He told us that, sorry, they would be closed for lunch due to the Census. We then decided to follow the example of the German guests and ask for some food to go. He said that, yes, he could do this, and what time would we like it to be ready? Confused, we said, “How about 1:30?” No problem, he said, I’ll be here. Quite accustomed as we are to not really understanding how things work in this country, we set out for a walk to the Peguche waterfall. We took the opportunity to spend more time learning how to use our camera, and we got some nice pictures of the waterfall and hummingbirds in a field of flowers close by.

We returned to the restaurant just after 1:30, and our host came shortly thereafter to take our orders for lunch. Not content with cold food, Chelsea asked if he could prepare us a sandwich. He said yes, and brought the lunch menu to us. They were able to prepare at least half the things on the menu, so Chelsea got a grilled cheese and I got a crepe with mixed fruits on top (I actually ordered pancakes and a crepe arrived, but oh well). Then the Germans came in and ordered lunch as well, so I’m pretty sure the restaurant would have looked pretty darn open for lunch to anyone else who walked in. Chelsea then continued on her roll and asked the host to prepare us a fire, which he did quite efficiently. We then spent our remaining immobility time sitting by the fire and reading. The drive back went quite smoothly thanks to the reduced traffic, and we are now able to look back upon another interesting and quite nice trip.