Try Daily Market in Otavalo

(See Favorite Flea Markets)

After a trip to the Galápagos, my wife and I hired a guide for a leisurely two-day trip to Otavalo, Ecuador, March 26-27, 2011. Our experience with the craft market there did not match the rave reviews found in popular guidebooks and on several websites, including TripAdvisor.

We’re avid flea market and thrift store shoppers, and, to us, the Otavalo Craft Market — where our guide carefully explained the various qualities of alpaca and other wools — was no more impressive than other South American flea markets.

If this is your only opportunity to see a South American flea market, do it, but we left feeling that the tour industry has overhyped this market.

Four blocks south of the Otavalo Craft Market is the Otavalo Daily Market. This is where locals food shop. It’s not as big as the Ben Thanh Market in Saigon, Vietnam (which we visited in 2009 and September 2011), but we felt it was well worth the visit.

The Daily Market is a great place to learn about numerous local fruits, vegetables and meats.

For example, try a custard apple. It looks like an artichoke, and you know it’s ripe when you gently squeeze it and it gives slightly under your hand — the same feel as a ripe avocado. You can buy these apples ready to eat or still hard to the touch, letting them ripen over the next few days. The taste is pear-like and sweet.

FRED KOEHLER
Orange, CA