Fruita Farmers Market

Yesterday, we made the short drive to Fruita, Colorado to visit their
weekly Farmers Market. Although there wasn't a lot of produce because
it's still early in the growing season, it was a lot less crowded than our
more local Market in Grand Junction and is held on the weekend instead
of Thursday evening. The people were really friendly, some good music
was being played by Huey Plumleigh and everything had a good, laid back
feel. We didn't end up buying anything, but Lynn had a good time looking
at the products that two different alpaca farms were offering, and it was
fun to see two of the alpacas here at the market. After we left the market,
we strolled on the main street of Fruita and ended up at Aspen Street Coffee.
My goal at the beginning of the summer was to try more local coffee houses
and I really liked this place. Good coffee, roasted by Colorado Legacy
Coffee, friendly helpful baristas and really clean. Lots of neat historic photos
of Fruita on the wall as well. I'm pretty sure we'll go back some day. We
capped off the morning by stopping at the new Fruita Library for some
DVDs. One doesn't always have to go a long way to check out new things.
Sometimes, they can be in your own neighborhood!

Palisade Sunday Market

There are a number of Farmer's Markets in the Grand
Valley. Probably most notable is the Grand Junction
Downtown Farmer's Market that happens every Thursday
night. Sometimes though it's nice to visit a smaller,
more intimate market and the small town of Palisade's
Sunday Market fits that bill. I really enjoyed the much
smaller feel of the market and although it took only a
few minutes to walk through, there were lots of
interesting booths and vendors to visit and there was
very little repetition in products. Like other markets,
a lot of the local businesses were also open and we
had a good time visiting the Blue Pig Gallery where our

friend Christine has been known to have some work
displayed. The whole market is only a couple of

streets long, but combined with a really pretty location

and very friendly people, I'm sure we'll visit again.

Farmer's Market Begins

Thursday evening, the 2010 version of the American National
Bank Downtown Farmers’ Market Festival in Grand Junction
began and we made our way down to Main Street to check it
out. Apparently, half of the Grand Valley did as well as I've
never seen it busier. It took a while to find a parking place
but eventually we joined the throngs and saw most of the
usual vendors there from years past. It seems (especially
this early in the season that "Farmer's Market" is pretty much
in name only as there were a lot of vendors and booths, but
only a few selling actual fresh fruits and vegetables. That,
of course, will increase over the course of the summer. In
the meantime, it was interesting to see all of the people
attending. On a high note, many businesses along Main Street
had later hours and we ducked into the Heirlooms for Hospice
store. Lynn found a couple really old knitting books at a
really low price. With that, we deemed the evening a great
success!

Farmer's Market

One of our favorite summertime things to do in Grand
Junction is to go to the Farmer's Market. Although it's still
a bit early and not filled with a large selection of produce
yet, there were still plenty of other booths to look through
and lots of good food to eat. We bought a green chile
burrito from the local Mennonite congregation and my
first really good hot dog that I've had for a long time.
Another big plus about living in Grand Junction? Lynn
lost her wallet and later, she got a call from the police
that someone had turned it in, with everything intact!

Otavalo Market

The Saturday Market in Otavalo is a pretty big deal. It's
supposed to be one of the largest Indigenous Markets in
all of South America. It was a great experience to see all
kinds of fruits and vegetables that I've never seen before.


At home, we're used to buying spices out of a bottle on the
supermarket shelf. Here, you can buy it by the kilo!


Also, all kinds of grains, nuts, rice...you name it!


We were turned off to the "fresh" chicken by watching
the woman who was selling it flick flies off of it with a wash
cloth. The different kinds of meat, including chickens, pigs
and guinea pigs would sit out all day in the hot sun...interesting.


Of course, the biggest attraction of the market is the large selection
of Indigenous crafts that are available to purchase. Miles after miles
of woven fabrics. Bargaining is the name of the game here, and you
never pay the price that is originally asked. We actually got some
pretty good deals.


We bought a couple of rugs from the woman that we will hang
on our walls back home.


Lynn talked me into buying this shaman's mask. I think she really
just wanted it for the knitting patterns, but maybe she has some
mysterious demons she wants me to scare away. Maybe I'm the
mysterious demon???

A Visit To Otavalo

After an "interesting" ride north on
the Pan American Highway in a taxi in
which we were pretty much cargo, we
arrived in the small Indigenous city
of Otavalo. It´s about a two hour
drive north of Quito. It´s famous for
the Craft Market held every Saturday
and we did our part to contribute to
the local economy! I´ll have lots of
great photos to share in a few weeks
when we have more reliable internet
connection but we´ll be spending the
next 7 nights at the Hostal Dona Esther
in Otavalo before we leave on the 25th
for the city of Cuenca, farther south
in Ecuador.