Craft Villages near Otavalo
Domesticated llama and alpaca species are raised commercially
Most visitors on Ecuador tours make a day-trip of the famed Saturday Otavalo crafts market. Those who have time to stay awhile will be able to not only explore some of the nearby villages where many of the items sold in Otavalo are made but also enjoy a striking landscape of volcanoes and crater lakes.
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The Otavalo Crafts Market
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From Quito, the town of Calderon whets the appetite of crafts enthusiasts as they head north to Otavalo, making their first stop in the Guayllabamba Valley. Just six miles from Ecuador’s capital, Calderon is famous for its handmade ornaments. Shops sell edible varieties for the country’s Day of the Dead celebration, baked into a variety of shapes, including dolls and llamas. The villagers also make inedible dough shapes mixed with glue for durability, marzipan figurines and wooden ornaments that make colorful Christmas tree ornaments, all popular souvenirs from travel to Ecuador.
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Arriving in the highland valley where Otavalo is located, visitors on Ecuador tours will find some seventy-five villages dotting the countryside. Some are known for particular crafts. Here one can oftentimes watch items being made, adding a fascinating dimension to a visitor’s travel to Ecuador.
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Peguche is a twenty-minute drive north of Otavalo. This is a village known around the world for its quality weavings and its musical ensembles that tour internationally. Visitors on Ecuador tours to Peguche will also find wooden musical instruments such as panpipes being carved here by villagers. Like Otavalo, Peguche’s market is held on Saturday.
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Ten miles northwest of Otavalo is the indigenous village of Cotacachi where leather goods are the specialty, from belts to briefcases. During your travel to Ecuador, there is no better place to buy quality leather items, including clothing, at very affordable prices. Market day is Sunday, but any day your Ecuador tours take you here, you’ll find much to buy in the open-air market and the town’s many shops.
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If a fedora is on your list of must-have souvenirs during your travel to Ecuador, chances are it will have been made in the tiny village of Iluman. Located between Otavalo and Cotacachi, four miles north of Otavalo, Iluman’s craftsmen make various styles of the felt wool hats seen all over Ecuador. Here it is possible to watch hats being made on wooden molds and have a custom hat made for you. Iluman is also home to a multitude of shamans.
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Twenty to thirty minutes north of Otavalo by car is San Antonio de Ibarra, known for its wood and stone carving. Here visitors on Ecuador tours will observe a wide range of items on religious and secular themes being carved, from boxes and wooden toys that fit into a suitcase to furniture and large heavy abstract sculpture pieces that won’t. Here visitors on Ecuador tours may watch the artisans at work in their shops.
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Five miles east of Otavalo, the village of Agato is known for its woven textiles made on backstrap and Spanish looms. A few miles east of Agato is Zuleta where the village women embroider blouses and tablecloths among other articles.
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Passengers who visit the Otavalo crafts market during Ecuador tours with Southern Explorations will have the opportunity to visit some of these other craft villages. Our nine-day Ecuador Highlights trip and the eleven-day Galapagos Islands and Haciendas trip as well as two tour extensions, the Otavalo Market day-trip and the four-day Haciendas, Hot Springs and Volcanoes trip visit Calderon and Cotacachi. The two-day Otavalo Market tour extension visits Calderon, Peguche and San Antonia de Ibarra.
