Quito, Ecuador: Otavalo Market Excursion with Lunch. After breakfast at the hotel and at the designated time, get ready to meet your guide at the lobby of the hotel.  

We begin our travels north of Quito, towards Otavalo, visiting the small village of Calderon, known for its unique and colorful ornamental ‘baked-bread’ dolls (figuras de masapán). We then continue along the Pan-American Highway to Guayllabamba to taste one of Ecuador’s endemic fruits (the chirimoya), stopping en route to admire the region’s beautiful landscape and snow-capped mountains, making a short stop at San Pablo Lake before arriving at Otavalo. Here we visit the busy textile market located at ‘Poncho Plaza’, famous as one of the largest open-air markets in South America. Find all kinds of handcrafts including tapestries made on old-Spanish weaving looms, and even older pre-Columbian back strap looms. Stop for Lunch at a Hacienda. Enjoy some free time to shop (and haggle) with the friendly Otavaleños. In the early afternoon we visit a colonial hacienda for lunch. We then head to the small artisan village of Cotacachi and return to Quito in the late afternoon/early evening.