Otavalo Animal Market (and Jorie opts for the goat)

Otavalo is famous for a couple of markets. It is famous internationally and domestically for its artisan market, which is really cool. It is also famous, more locally, for its animal market. Every Saturday morning, before the sun has even thought about rising, people start to haul animals of all types into the designated dirt field on the edge of town. Most people who go to the market are either there to buy or to sell. Susana´s sister and her husband collect pigs from the surrounding communities and take them down to sell every Saturday. You will also see a smattering of tourists who have come to look at real, live animals that they don´t see anymore in their advanced, developed economies. Ask yourselves, apart from the petting zoos and on tv, when was the last time your kids saw where their meat actually came from?

One morning while Amy´s parents (Joan and David Olsen) were in town, we decided to take a walk through the animal market. Here we have a good looking rooster that greeted us on our way in. 














A typical scene is a couple of folks bargaining over an animal that is in play. They will talk about the apparent health, size, liveliness, etc, of the animal. Prices of the animals vary considerably depending on the supply that day and during the week.












While we were in the market, we ran across Susana´s sister and brother-in-law. They had just sold this huge freaking pig that you see here. Note that Carlos, a grown (albeit somewhat diminutive) man, is not that much taller. Its ears could cover my entire face, and I think it could swallow Audrey whole. Carlos and Susana were wondering why they had sold the pig, because it had already given three good litters. They found out the next week that the family had sold the pig because they were saving money to make Carlos and Susana godparents for their children who were about to be blessed in their church. More on that in a subsequent post, but these types of things cost a lot of money (relatively speaking).  













At first glance, there is nothing particularly noteworthy in this picture, apart from two cute girls and a bunch of goats. I wanted to post a picture of Jorie with the goats for a reason. The next weekend we were in Quito with the grandparents, in Quito´s historic center, and stopped in to a small local restaurant for an almuerzo, or lunch. We could choose between chicken or chivo, which is goat. Much to my pleasant surprise, Jorie went for the goat. She said she wanted to try it, just to see what it tasted like, because, you know, it might just be really good. I could see that some of my preaching over the last 9 years had seeped in. The first bite sealed the deal, and she thought it was one of the best kinds of meat she had ever eaten. With this kind of praise, Audrey and Bentz dug in two and gave their approbation. Sometimes I forget that my kids will eat a lot of different kinds of stuff. Times like this remind me. Good kids.