Encompassing a sacred landscape of highland lakes, misty valleys and mighty volcanoes, Ecuador’s northern Imbabura Province is also the home of the indigenous Otavalo people. Their eponymous town is where you’ll find the most famous textile and craft market in South America. Bustling along to a soundtrack of keening panpipes, its Plaza de Ponchos market is a riot of rainbow-coloured blankets, wall hangings and fluffy alpaca jumpers, and it has been drawing in backpackers and tour buses since the 1980s.
On the stalls you’ll find men and women in their distinctive traditional dress chatting away in Kichwa, a legacy of the Inca empire that) around their neck, coral charms () on their wrists to ward off evil spirits, and a shawl (). Two wraparound skirts () are tied at the waist with a pair of woven belts () and their hair is usually worn in a single ponytail, often braided with ribbon, while a felt hat or coloured cloth () keeps off the sun.
