Otavalo, Imbabura

Otavalo is a largely indigenous town in Imbabura province, Ecuador, well known for its Saturday market. The city of Otavalo has around 26,000 inhabitants and is infamous for its crafts and weavers that predates back to Inca times along with its colorful Saturday markets.

The Otavaleños have sophisticated business distribution logistics and are equipped with wholesale warehouses combined with several international freight forwarders that distribute to many parts of the USA and European countries. They have also marketed well a series of good restaurants, hotels and cafes to suit the travelers varying tastes in addition to 1000s of small stalls for the visitor to peruse at his leisure.

As previously mentioned the Otavaleños are world famous for their weaving prowess and commercialization in the modern world while maintaining a sense of tribal identity of culture and customs.

A fine example of the latter may be seen in their dress codes, visitors will see them in typical daily attire consisting of fully reversible ponchos (blue or gray), roped leather and rubber sandals, white pants, calf length and dark hats made of felt along with their long plaited ponytails. The women on the other hand wear colorful embroidered blouses, shawls and black skirts with head cloths while their wrists are decorated in red and golden colored beads as are their necklaces.

The Otavaleños are a strikingly proud race of people and also have meticulous sense of personal hygiene. These highland Indians also speak Quichua as their primary tongue and of course Spanish as their secondary language.

In regard to their origin some researchers have concluded that the Otavaleños are descendants of forced migrants while others propound they originate from Chibcha salt traders from Colombia but perhaps the final postulation is more correct which comes from modern Otavaleños who prefer to think they came from local pre-Inca roots.