When I first arrived in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, Milena and her mother Margarida took me to the local market.
In Villa de Leyva, the local market is opened on Saturday. The trucks arrive early in the morning and everyone sets up their tables and tarps in a designated area.
What touched me very positively, is that indigenous individuals with no truck or table, could set themselves up in a spot and sell the produce from their gardens that they were able to carry to this spot.
I do not believe that these indigenous people have to pay for their spot, they just set up where it is convenient or appropriate for them. I imagine that the spots were the main merchants set up are officially reserved, and obviously there must be a fee for having an official spot.
I lived in Villa de Leyva for 6 months and just down the street from the market. I would buy 2 large bags of fruits and vegetables for my weekly consumption and it would cost me less than $10.
I became addicted to avocados. In Ecuador, we bought 3-4 medium size avocados for $1. We ate an avocado with our huge vegetable salads almost every supper and never got tired of it. How can you get tired of eating fresh, healthy, locally grown produce?
Now in Colombia we have about 30 native avocado trees. Last year I found a few of them and we could not possibly eat all the avocados that were produced because we had just purchased the property and were not organized to do something with all those avocados.
This year I learned that native trees produce only every 2 years and so we only found 2 trees this year which produced avocados. The avocados start producing in August and we ate our last few in January.
This year we also planted 300 trees of HASS avocados. This variety is the best one for exports. The trees will start producing only in 3 years, but in the mean time, we personally have more than enough from our native trees.
The picture bellow is me in the famous market of Otavalo.
We lived in Ibarra, which is 45 minutes north of Otavalo by bus, at a cost of 55 cents.
Otavalo is known for its Market in the central Plaza de Ponchos, and it is largest and most active on Saturday, but opened every day of the week.
When we first arrived in Ibarra, we visited the Otavalo Market and bought 2 alpaca hand made blankets. The blankets come in beautiful colors and designs. They are relatively thin but provide the perfect heat factor for the cool Andean nights. Sleeping in the mountains is wonderful, and we really appreciate it after having lived 14 months in Costa Rica.
In Ibarra the market is also opened every day, and even though it was not just down the street from where we lived, we could walk 20 minutes or take the local bus. Because we enjoy the walk, we tend to go to the market 2 or 3 times per week. We do not have to stock up for the week.
In Costa Rica there was no local Market. We had to buy at the supermercado. We lived in Costa Rica after I had lived in Villa de Leyva for 6 months and it really bothered me not to be able to buy locally grown food, from local growers. At the supermercado the prices for most of the produce was quite high and I could not understand why there was no regular market. The only available market was a Saturday "organic market" and the prices there were outrageous.
The traditional local markets in Ecuador and Colombia are in my opinion one of the best things about living in these countries. The food is grown locally and sold locally. Preservatives are not used and I am certain that pesticides, if used, are used at a minimal level. Both in Ibarra and Villa de Leyva, there are virtually no bugs and no snakes. I believe it has something to do with the altitude. In any case, I highly recommend life in Ecuador and Colombia and the markets is one of the best reasons for it.
Finally I will make a quick mention of hot sauce. In Villa de Leyva I bought this amazingly good and extremely hot, hot sauce. Lee and I love hot meals but unfortunately I have not found any comparable hot sauce in Ibarra. However, we bought fresh hot peppers weekly and although we used them in almost all out meals, we probably used $0.25 worth every week.
Here on the Popayán finca we have bushes of very small but extremely hot peppers. I make our own hot salsa but, I believe that many of the hot peppers will also be waisted because one bush provides so much. We both eat a ton of it, but still...
Believe me when I say: Life is fantastic, pure and simple in Ibarra, Ecuador and Popayán, Colombia. We hope to welcome you as our neighbors in the very near future.
InfiniteLove