Whole again - mercado

So it is Sunday and I think that I am finally reaclimatized to the altitude here in Quito. It was no problem really when I arrived but we descended about 8000 feet to the rainforest and then reascended that amount in 5 hours....it screws with your system a lot. I didn´t eat or drink enough the first day back and kinda felt sick to my stomach Friday and then Saturday morning.

So both of my friends that were studying Spanish are gone back to the states, but before they left the three of us went to an open air indigenous people market in a park here in Quito. Many of the people are from Otavalo, a city known for its native market, and the people love to haggle. I bought a few items but honestly, it was simply overwhelming. There is SO MUCH stuff, all hand made, all relatively cheap, and it is good to take a limited amount of money when you go. The good news is that I got to pratice my spanish and asked lots of questions about where the goods were made, how long they took to make, who made them and I was understood fairly well I think. Better towards the end as I had an hour´s worth of intesive bartering practice. :)

I am convinced that salespeople are the same the world around and even more when making the sale is their entire livelyhood. Ever time you asked about something, the response was - this costs (for example) $8......but I will give it to you for $7. Or I will give a discount for buying multiple things. Or...¿Cuánto?, which means - how much do you want to pay for it. I bartered one item from $10 to $6. It was kind of intense during the negociations, but after all smiles - both sides. I love the indigenous people because they work hard, barter hard, and are friendly to me. Probably because I will buy somthing, but many Ecuadorians are more closed until you have an opportunity to get to know them.

I also found the indigenous market that is open everyday and it is more crazy and harder to look at the stuff. Let me tell you something about the goods...I saw leaves (from trees) that essentially had images tatooed into them and were beautiful. I saw art work made from different types of leaves with different textures and I was just amazed. There are products of jade, clay, wood, algodon, and alpaca. Often an item will take a day to a week to make...especially the medium sized rugs or wall hangings. The paintings are pretty spectacular as well, and many copies of the works of the painter/muralist Guyasamin are everywhere....and quite good too. There are so many cool things to look at and touch and I will try to bring my camera next time to give you an idea of the breadth of goods.

I am going to try and get in contact with my new friend Jamela (see the pictures 2 posts ago) as she apparently went white water rafting, and this left her in the hospital overnight in Tena. I know nothing right now other than though she is safe, she has to miss her trip to the Galapagos. I am so sorry for her. :(