andicrafts in the Andes
"We'll do some four-wheel-driving today",
Andres de la Torre said ...
Hacienda Pinsaqui, which has 17 guest rooms and
a succession of baronial sitting and dining rooms
surrounded by gardens that have been cultivated
for two centuries. The house, a sprawl of Spanish
colonial buildings, terraces and walkways, has
been in the same horse-loving family for five
generations and is studded with equestrian trophies
and photos. With a Pinsaqui guide, we rode the
hacienda's horses past women washing clothes
in streams, through the nearby weavers village
of Peguche, through a eucalyptus grove and to
the Peguche waterfall, considered sacred in pre-Inca
times and used today for infant baptism. Unlike
some other trail rides we've been on, we were
allowed to break out of a walk, trotting at times
and even galloping when we encountered hostile
dogs.
At dinner on New Year's Eve at Pinsaqui, two
long tables were filled by some 20 hotel guests
and about the same number of family members.
(Katy was surprised to find herself at dinner
sitting near another 11th-grade girl from New
York who turned out to be a friend of a friend.)
Dinner began with a champagne toast in Spanish,
followed by a selection of grilled meats accompanied
by aji, the ubiquitous Ecuadorian salsa that,
every cook prepares differently but always with
a considerable degree of heat.
After dinner, everyone went outside where effigies
of men representing the old year were to be burned.
We were given bags containing 12 grapes and told
to make a wish as we ate each grape. A brass
band loudly played for dancing and anyone standing
still was at risk of being pulled into the fray.
Always looking for a new partner was a masked
woman dressed as the widow of the dying year;
nearly every man and woman and child took a turn
with her. The effigies were set afire, helped
by splashes of kerosene, while the dancing was
helped by slugs of the anise-flavored liquor
called aguardiente, consumed from a common glass.
At one point the band demanded its share. Refueled,
it played on while the dancers took turns leaping
over the bonfire and into the new year.
We stayed at Hacienda Pinsaqui, Panamericana
Norte Kilometer 5, Otavalo; telephone (593-6)
946 116 and 946 117, fax (593-6) 946 117, www.haciendapinsaqui.com.
Built in 1790, it has 17 guest rooms with private
baths and rustic antiques; most have fireplaces.
Pinsaqui is in the heart of the Otavalo region,
just off the Pan-American Highway at the road
to Cotacachi, a leather-goods center. A few minutes
by car (or almost an hour on horseback) is Peguche,
a village of weavers, who sell their goods in
a couple of shops there as well as at the market
in Otavalo, also nearby. Pinsaqui's rooms range
from $98 to $122 with a breakfast of eggs, meat
and pastries.
THE NEW YORK TIMES , Sunday, April 14, 2002
Handicrafts in the Andes
By Steve Bailey
