Saturday is market day and the whole town changes shape. Otavalo, a town of some thirty thousand people in the northern Ecuadorian Andes, is home to the Otavalo people, an indigenous Kichwa community famous for its weaving, and the Plaza de Ponchos fills with stalls of textiles, hats, hand-knitted jumpers, beads and paintings. The men wear their hair in a long braid and the women dress in embroidered blouses, blue wrap skirts and strings of golden beads, and many of the merchants speak Kichwa among themselves.
It sits in a high valley, ringed by volcanoes. The Imbabura looms over the town, a mountain the locals call Taita, or father, while Cotacachi stands nearby and Mojanda's crater lakes lie up a rough road to the south. The nearby Lago San Pablo reflects the Imbabura on calm mornings, and not far away is the Peguche waterfall, a short walk through eucalyptus woods to a sacred cascade used in local festivals.
The ride from Quito runs north along the Pan-American Highway, past the equator line and across a high plateau where fields of maize and potatoes fall away to deep green ravines. The surface is mostly good, although lorries slow things on the climbs and fog can drop quickly, especially around the passes. The best sections come on the side roads around the lake and toward Cotacachi, the leather town, where curves flow nicely and traffic eases, though cobbled village streets need care when wet.
Otavalo has all you need, with plenty of fuel stations, simple restaurants and guesthouses, and Atuntaqui and Cotacachi are a short ride away in either direction. At the market, bargain gently and with a smile, and compare quality before buying, since prices and craftsmanship vary. Try a plate of hornado, roast pork with potatoes, or a warm cup of colada morada in season, and leave early on a Saturday to avoid the crush of people in the narrow streets. Nights at this altitude are cool, so pack a layer.