graytrekker
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This is my third post on Ecuadorian indigenous groups from my time there 1995-96. This time I am taking you the town of Otavalo, about 2 hours north of Quito. This has become quite the tourist destination as the town is know for its outdoor tapestry market. My next post will be about the weekly Mercado (Market Day), but here I wanted to highlight the unique dress of the women from Otavalo ("Otavaleņas").
All week, but especially for Mercado, the women wear a simple blue felt-like skirt with a colorful belt, a brilliantly white "puffy" blouse (sometimes embroidered) and lots of gold necklaces. I was told that prior to the arrival of the Spanish, these were actually real gold to display a given family's wealth in public. Of course, the Spanish relieved them of the drudge of wearing such weight around their necks! True traditionalists would wear an odd hat made from folding a dark blue piece of cloth. It is quite unusual and I have no idea how it is folded. Otherwise, a dark blue bandana was usually pulled around the head. Finally, sometimes a woman would just wear her hair in a pony tail, wrapped with a patterned material similar to their belt.
Another fascinating aspect was that no matter their economic station, they and their clothes (especially the blouses) were always very clean.
I apologize ahead of time that these photos are not of the quality I posted earlier, but do provide an illustration of what I described above.
 Otavalena 1 by Doug Stevens, on Flickr
Two women socializing in a doorway - one with the traditional folded cloth hat.
 Otavalena 2 by Doug Stevens, on Flickr
An older woman on Market Day. even though she has only onions to sell, she is dressed "to the nines"!
 Otavalo market by Doug Stevens, on Flickr
Here are 3 women at the famous tapestry market - one with just a pony tail, one with the bandana and one with the folded cloth hat.
Hopefully after this, my next post will make more sense
Thanks for looking/reading
Doug
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