Otavalo market

This was beautiful, sunny day. Good enough to eventually see the equator and some other places. So we headed to Otavalo (the biggest Indian market in Ecuador), but on the way from Quito one is forced to cross the equator. There we had a little break to see how french people set the point in XIX century and how Indians did the same 2000 years ago. How do you think - who was closer to the truth - french people or Indians? Yes, you're right. Nation that can't produce reliable car can't also set properly the equator - that's obvious. So we've taken pictures in both equators and moved farther to Otavalo. I was positively surprised with what I had seen there. Market was very clean and well-odered. Quite different than markets in Poland. Not to mention that quality of products (hand made) was rather low and prices rather high. But I decided to buy some symbolic gifts to my daughters - generally it's not easy to buy nice things in Ecuador, so I went for what I had. The funny story is about thieves in the market - they just doesn't exist. Why? Because it's Indian place and if someone is caught on theft, is brought before Indian court and usually beaten very hard. Then he is dropped somewhere near the road and call to the police is given informing that some drunkards is here and there. After such action noone dare to steal anymore. Why we don't have something like that in Poland???
On the way back from Otavalo we headed to nice small city called Cotacachi. There were plenty of boutiques with leather products. They are famous from producing saddles years ago. And again I was positively surprised with the stores - they reminded me shops in the best polish health resort, like Zakopane or Sopot. They are very rich and prices are high. Quality of products seems to be high also. They even accept credit cards. After 30 minutes of wandering around this small city we went to the Cotacachi National Park - it's famous from the lake in old volcano's caldera. It is known to be 180 m deep in places they managed to measure it. Who knows the real deep of this beautiful lake? See some pictures I've taken on that wonderful day...