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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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SAQUILISI & LATACUNGA, ECUADOR
Saquilisi The Thursday morning market in Saquilisi is much less touristy than the Otavalo market. You can get better deals and get a better sense of local market culture. This market serves as an economic center for the surrounding area.
There are various indigenous crafts to choose from mixed in with commercial knockoffs - many booths were selling Los Angeles Raider hats and Nikee (misspelled) clothes. You can also buy homemade shotguns if that's your fancy. Most of the booths sell bulk goods - which is what makes this market less touristy than some others. Cotton is brought in from the coast, buckets of fruits and vegetables, pots and pans, live animals, and herbs line the streets. You can catch a bus to Saquilisi from Latacunga. The only thing I did in Saquilisi was go to the market. I don't recall seeing hostels - most people stay in Latacunga and take bus into Saquilisi. About a mile out of town is the animal market. You'll see llamas, apacas, cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses for sale. Smaller animals (guinea pigs and chickens) are sold in main market. Animal lovers beware! This is not an oversized pet store - and the animals are not treated as such. After about 20 minutes I had to head towards the main market - tired of the painting, yanking, throwing, and whipping. Just put it in context. Try the Allullas at one of the many booths along the street - they are dough balls with cheese and onions inside fried in pork fat. Yeah, yeah, really they taste better than they sound! Latacunga
From the terminal terrestre, you can catch a bus to a nearby village of Pujili. The small Andean village is known for its interesting ceramic crafts and for its colorful festivals of Carnival (pre-Easter) and Corpus Cristi (June). Pujili has markets on Sunday and Wednesday which are even less touristy than Saquilisi's. You won't find many crafts at these markets but as more tourists go, more crafts are sold. Hotel Estanbul (Quevedo y Salcedo) is a good deal with a great view from the rooftop balcony and luggage storage ($4 with shared bath, $7 with private). I had great fried trout at Parilladas Los Copihues (Quito y Maldanado) for $3 and a good Ecuadorian dish at the Restaurant La Borgona (Valencia y Orellana). Bonanza Coffee Bar (Quevedo y Salcedo) has good coffee and is open into the evening.
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Safari Tours, with office in Quito, offers a Thursday day tour to Saquilisi's market for $45 (lunch and snacks included). Tour (total distance is 270 kilometers) is for minimum of 2 people so grab a travel partner. The guide picks you up at your hostel in a 4x4 jeep and you are off. For this particular tour, you start in Quito and stop in Latacunga, then visit the small village of Pujili, then you arrive at the market of Saquilisi. To eat your picnic lunch, you stop at Tilipulo, a Jesuit monastery dating back to the 17th century. To get there, you 4x4 it through a pasture. It was very fun - though our guide got a kick out of scaring the poor cows by almost running them over. Finally, you visit Ecuador's leather capital of Cotacachi and then make a quick stop in La Cienega before returning to Quito. This tour was very informative and you have freedom to convince your guide to stop at various places along the way. You certainly could visit all the villages by bus, but it was a nice change riding in a jeep. |
Latacunga is the capital of the Cotopaxi Province and is located about 155 miles from Quito (17 miles from Saquilisi). Latacunga has markets on Thursday and Saturday in the Plaza Chile near the bridges. You'll see huge bundles on yarn spread out by the river and a delicious fruit market with yummy watermelons. Molinas de Monserrat (Vela y Salcedo) is a museum built on the site of an old castle. It has lots of ceramics, paintings, and colonial artifacts. Casa de la Cultura is next store over the bridge. 
