Ecuador: Marketplace in the mountains

As we stood on the edge of the Laguna Quilota, admiring the beauty of the emerald lake that has formed in a volcanic crater 3800m above sea level, a small parade made its way along the dusty path around the crater rim.

First came a white donkey laden with sacks of food. Then followed a woman in the typical dress of the indigenous women in this region of Ecuador, a black fedora hat, bright red poncho and black skirt. Bringing up the rear was a young girl hanging desperately on to her small hat in the gusty wind.

The mother and daughter were returning to their isolated smallholding in the hills after doing the week's shopping at the Zambahua Market.

For the ride from Zambahua back to the village of Quilota they had squeezed into one of the open trucks which serve as the transport system up high in the Andes Mountains. Then they had hired the mule to help carry their supplies the final leg back to their home.

As we continued to enjoy the view of the lake - which according to local legend is connected with the sea, hence its salty, sulphury waters - another seemingly poorer family paraded past.

Lacking a donkey to carry the heavy items, the father staggered under the burden of a sack of grain, the mother and a posse of small children straggled behind loaded with smaller bags.

As it happens we had met the three youngest children of this family earlier. When we arrived at a viewing spot for the lake they had rushed up and asked for money. On the advice of our guide, Cecilia, we refused.

Instead she offered to buy them some bread. The children conferred and sent the youngest, Yolande, to collect this less attractive booty. "The others say they have to mind the ship," giggled Cecilia. "They hope some more tourists will come and they can get money from them."

Bread may have been less welcome than cash but we couldn't help noticing that as the family made its way past, heading for home, they were all chewing on the rolls Cecilia had bought from the local bakery.

For all the modernity of Ecuador's cities, life up here in the mountains is still close to subsistence level and the local market remains a crucial focal point of activity.

Even getting there is like a journey back in time. Our bus travelled on modern sealed roads but took us through a picturesque landscape chequered with fertile smallholdings, a mix of small modern homes and the traditional roundhouses of the indigenous Quichua people, and past small groups of pedestrians, many leading strings of laden llamas or donkeys, and all wearing the ubiquitous fedoras and coloured ponchos.

The modern world did intrude in one unexpected fashion: many of the buildings facing the road were painted with extensive and colourful election advertisements. "That," explained Cecilia, "is a tradition here. People paint their properties to show who they support." Judging from the slogans, president Rafael Correa didn't get the support that saw him overwhelmingly re-elected around here.

Suddenly the modern world also intruded in another way: a traffic jam, though one with as many llamas and fedora-hatted walkers as cars. It turned out a bus taking people to the market had run off the road and an ancient truck-crane and a huge modern tractor were combining to haul it back to safety.

By the time we made it to Zambahua the market was in full swing, the huge open square in the middle of town bristling with stalls selling everything from iron pots and sacks of corn to multi-coloured ropes and fat melons, and bustling with eager shoppers, Quichua people, whose presence here pre-dates the arrival of the Inca by several centuries, their short, stocky bodies apparently an adaptation to the high altitude and thin air, their traditional clothing adding colour to the occasion.

At the entrance to the market two young men were cooking corn fritters and Cecilia negotiated a bulk purchase. Delicious.

Further in were rows of fruit and vegetable stalls, piled high with papaya and babaco, red and yellow bananas, avocados and tamarillos, oranges and sweet potatoes, green beans and golden corn, and presided over by smiling, shouting women, their brown faces protected from the equatorial sun with natty fedoras.

Cecilia bought some tiny finger bananas and huge red bananas for us to try. "What are the red bananas like?" I asked one of our group. "Umm, well, like bananas only red."

As we sampled the local fruits a man with a microphone was urging people to buy his bundles of dried herbs. Cecilia explained that he was a traditional healer, from higher up in the mountains, and his offerings were traditional remedies.

The hat stall nearby was doing a busy trade. There you could buy a fedora in any colour you liked so long as it was dark.

Along the back of the market was a row of sewing machines presided over by men. These were used to make instant repairs to damaged articles of clothing brought in by customers. At the head of the row a group of women seemed to be taking some sort of supervisory role but as far as I could see their activities were limited to bringing icecreams for the machine operators.

Nearby was the chicken section. Birds were hauled out of their cages by their feet, poked and squeezed by potential buyers, and if they proved satisfactory carried off upside down to whatever the future might hold.

In another corner pigs were on offer. As I watched, one man bought a large black pig and wandered off home, leading it on a rope with one hand and his horse by its reins with the other. The pig seemed perfectly happy about this and followed like a well-trained dog.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: LAN Airlines flies daily from Auckland to Santiago with onward connections to Quito or Guayaquil in Ecuador.

Getting around: World Journeys offer a 6 day/5 night Ecuador package from Quito to Cuenca, experiencing traditional cultures, haciendas, the Chiva Express train and two nights in Cuenca, priced from $1795 per person (share twin). Phone 0800 11 73 11 or see worldjourneys.co.nz.

Further information: To find out more about visiting Ecuador visit ecuadortouristboard.com.

Jim Eagles went to Ecuador with help from Lan Airlines and World Journeys.