Ecuador III- Otovalo Animal Market

Friends who used to live in Ecuador had recommended a trip to the Otovalo animal market. My thoughts?

It was EARLY (we arrived at 5:50am)

It was FASCINATING.

It was REAL- people weighing guinea pigs to eat for dinner that night, and milking cows to test them out. No disinfected version of reality that we give to kids in the US- this was real.

Adorable piglets, all huddled together for warmth. They probably had a few more years of life to fatten up before they ended up as Easter dinner.

Nora was dying to see a llama in real life.  Jen and I thought that this adorable papoose baby with a llama was the cutest thing ever.

Trade began way before the sun went up.

This little piggie would not go gently into that good night.

I love travelling.  In Panama, I have seen a pick-up with 2 Brahmin cows.  In Nicaragua, I saw a pick-up with 20 teenagers crammed in the back.  And in Ecuador, a pick-up full of pigs on their way to market.