Quito's Artisan Market

We went shopping today. For stuff. We purposely didn't pack much to take down here, intending to get sweaters and jackets here. So we've been a little cold (after getting soaked) and decided that today was the day to get some sweaters. So! Off we went to go to the Artisan's Market. First we had to take all our clothes to the laundry, since you can't dry clothes outside on the line when it pours rain in the afternoon. You could if you stayed home and took them in, but we've been off exploring... Oh. And we ate. A lot. We had to wait for twenty minutes for the laundry to open, so we had a coffee. I had an empanada and Susan had a Pan Chocolate. MMMmmm. Then we went down to the older part of town (Gringolandia) where all the restaurants and hostels are and had breakfast (again) in a square. We then rolled down the cobblestone-type streets to the Artisan Market. Isn't that just the most gnarly sycamore you've ever seen?!

The Artisan Market is a bunch of small stalls with all sorts of stuff, but mostly the same stuff over and over again. Beautiful, don't get me wrong, but you know you'll find the same stuff a few stalls down. The interesting thing was that there was quite a bit of variety in the types of people that were there. Take a look at the picture on the right.

The vendors are pretty funny, too.

I love this picture of a woman folding scarves. The colors are just beautiful and I have to say that the people are extremely friendly. Of course they want us to buy something, but even if we don't they're nice. As you might imagine, we had quite the time joking around with the vendors, the kids, and also the other browsers/shoppers. Oh! And we had some chocolate ice cream, with cinnamon. Muy delicioso.

We got slippers.

We had an amazing lunch at a Cevicheria. We didn't actually get ceviche, but other stuff that looked pretty good. You may notice Susan pinching into my rice with calamari and tuna there on the right. You may also notice that there aren't any more pictures, since once I had to get down to business, there wasn't anything left for more pictures. Susan just walked in and mentioned that all the posts are about food. Well, yeah. I had an amazing lunch, she had a fish platter, two lemonades and the bill was $4. THAT is exciting.

So. Then after some wandering around bookstores, we had to stop for dinner. : ) Takeout. That's me there, waiting for the food to come (in my nifty new green sweater), figuring out the shortest route back home to eat. Wow, that's some good food.