Want to develop a closer connection to your food? Traveling in rural Latin America is one way to start.
High up in the Andes, the city of Otavalo, Ecuador hosts a weekly market where ranchers from surrounding towns come to sell livestock to restaurants, families and other farmers.
The conventional (by US standard) species like chickens, pigs, cows, and goats were there, but the vendors also sold guinea pigs to be killed and cooked for cuy, a typical Andean dish.
The market was loud! Squealing 100 lb. pigs could barely be heard over the drone of crowing and clucking roosters. The smell wasn’t too bad as there was a breeze brushing through the field and the animals had only been there for a few hours. As the market wore on and the sun beat down, the pig section became a little rank. From my very limited experience visiting rural county fairs as a kid and at this animal market, I’m pretty sure that pigs are able to excrete their weight in urine within hours!
Ladies in indigenous dress and men in jeans and sweatshirts, circled and poked at the animals to assess quality. When they found one that they liked, they would haggle with the farmer, sometimes walking away and other times carrying off the animal after they made the sale.
As Americans, urban folk, and for me, as a vegetarian, it was hard to set aside our deep, but culturally influenced beliefs about the humane treatment of animals. For the livestock it was easier; I believe that most industrial animal agriculture in the U.S. is less humane than what most of those small farmers in Ecuador do.
Still, when I came to some cages that were densely packed with small and sickly kittens, I had to walk away.
But I overcame my emotions, and I’m glad I got the chance to experience this glimpse into everyday life in Ecuador.
More photos from the Otavalo Animal Market:
The pictures look great. This must have been quite an experience. Congrats on that!
This blew my mind, I didn’t know markets like this existed! Though it makes a lot of sense. What a fascinating and kind of sad place to be and the pictures you took are great.
Thanks a lot, Sally! I’ve never seen another market like it. And you’re exactly right, sad but fascinating!
Great photos. I was in Otavalo but not for the animal market. It looks crazy. Those ducklings are very cute but I doubt are comfortable.
Thanks, Ross! It was a very interesting experience, but I admit, a bit hard to stomach! 🙂
great market photography however not easy for my stomach ah….thx for sharing. i do like the use of the wide angle lens in some of the shots
Thanks, Natan! It was an interesting place, and definitely unlike any market we have here at home 🙂 And I’m glad you appreciate the wide angle lens, I’ve just started to use our very wide lens a lot more and I’m learning what kinds of scenes work well with it. I have some really wide shots in this post that I’m pretty proud of: https://everintransit.com/yosemite-hetch-hetchy/ Looking forward to checking out your photo site!