OTAVALO

town, north-central Ecuador, in the Andean highlands at an elevation of 8,441 feet (2,573 m). It was originally settled by the Otavalo Indians, later conquered by the Incas, and became a Spanish-controlled settlement in the 16th century. Largely destroyed in the 1868 earthquake, the town has since been rebuilt. The surrounding land, owned in small parcels by the Otavalo Indians, produces coffee, sugarcane, cotton, cereals, potatoes, fruit, and livestock. The weekly Indian market is famous as a tourist attraction for its cotton and woolen textiles (ponchos, carpets), leather goods, and native jewelry. Otavalo is connected by railway and the Pan-American Highway to Quito. Pop. (1990 prelim.) 21,542.