The famous Otavalo market is not only a place of commerce, but also a cultural center where the surrounding indigenous communities gather to exchange goods, traditions, and ancestral knowledge.
Otavalo’s cuisine is marked by fresh, local ingredients, many of them grown in the region’s fertile valleys. Dishes such as hornado (roasted pork), fritada and fresh trout from nearby lagoons are delicacies that you cannot miss.
The combination of altitudes and climates around Otavalo allows for the growth of a wide variety of plant and animal species, from small mammals such as the Andean fox to reptiles such as mountain snakes.