#3: May 6, Otavalo, Pinchincha Province

1) What is your favorite experience and why? 

 My favorite experience today was negotiating with the indigenous people at Otavalo, and seeing all of the beautiful hand made crafts in the market. I enjoyed this because it was fun to try and communicate different prices and show our interest in their hand made goods. I also thought it was funny when we had to take a detour in the mountain on our way to Claudia's, what an adventure!

  2) What did you learn about the indigenous Ecuadorian culture at Otavalo and during our lunch at the  indigenous house? 

 I learned that the people of the Otavalo market, prided themselves on their goods. You could tell that they enjoyed what they did, which was making and selling specialized crafts and numerous products. At the indigenous house, I also learned something similar. They loved making their traditional foods and sharing their culture with us. They seemed thrilled to have our company and have us experience their way of life with them. 

 3) What beliefs/behaviors of your have been ethnocentric so far? How will you work to change these? 

 A belief that I could work on would be not thinking of Ecuadorians or their country as poor, or underprivileged. When we are driving around, a lot of areas have different looking houses and places of residency. Much of this looks very different than the US, and even looks a bit rough or like poverty. I need to remember that Ecuador is still a developing country, and just because these people of Ecuador live differently, does not mean they are poor or any less of humans than Americans. They enjoy their lives and families just as much as us, if not more. 

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