Antonio de Espejo
In February 1583, Espejo arrived at the territory of the Piros, the most southerly of the Pueblo villagers. From there the Spanish continued up the Rio Grande. Espejo described the Pueblo villages as "clean and tidy". The houses were multi-storied and made of adode bricks. "They make very fine tortillas," Espejo commented, and the Pueblos also served the Spanish turkeys, beans, corns, and pumpkins. The people "did not seem to be bellicose". The southernmost Pueblos had only clubs for weapons plus a few "poor Turkish bows and poorer arrows". Further north, the Indians were better armed and more aggressive. Some of the Pueblo towns were large, Espejo described Zia as having 1,000 houses and 4,000 men and boys. In their farming, the Pueblos used irrigation "with canals and dams, built as if by Spaniards". The only Spanish influence that Espejo noted among the Pueblos was their desire for iron. They would steal any iron article they could find.
Otavalo people
The Otavalo area was densely populated. The Otavalo people practiced irrigation agriculture and constructed camelones or Waru Waru raised fields to regulate the supply of water for crops. Maize, potatoes and, at lower and warmer altitudes, coca and other tropical and sub-tropical crops were important products. Domesticated guinea pigs were an important source of animal protein, as was wild game such as deer. Prior to the Incas, the Otavalo apparently did not possess domesticated llamas and alpacas as did Andean peoples further south in Peru and Bolivia.