Quito Archives - Wandering North

Ecuador South America

A Relaxing Afternoon in Gringolandia

This morning, after an excellent coffee at El Cafeto, I caught a bus to the New Town, or more particularly, to Mariscal Sucre, or ¨Gringolandia¨as the locals called it. It is the part of town where most of the hotels and tour/travel agencies are located. (I am staying in the Centro Historica). It is actually pretty nice. Very colorful and packed with hostels and hotels and international restaurants and bars catering to the back-packing and traveling crowd. (There are also lots of locals there.)

First stop was the National Museum, where i viewed some excellent ancient and Incan art, mostly pottery, sculptures and gold. There was also a lovely exhibit of Colonial religious pantings.

After that I had a coffee on the Avenida Amazonas, the main street. I browsed in the shops and waled up and down all of the blocks. I had a leisurely lunch and cigar at a cafe in a square (below) and then browsed at an art market. The weather was perfect today and it was a delight to be outside.

Upon returning to the Old Town, I sat in the Plaza Grande and people watched for some time. There was a street performer dressed as Charlie Chaplin who was interfering with traffic, much to the delight of the large crowd. Even the Police were cracking up.
After that, I must admit that I returned to my room and had a nap.

Now I am going to do back to La Ronda for a beverage or a bite to eat before an early bed. Tomorrow morning I plan to be at the bus station by 6am to catch a bus to Otavalo – about a 3hour journey. I may or may not go to other towns along the way, depending on how the scenery looks.
Whew. Three blog entries in one day. A personal record. I am all caught up now. I shall write again tomorrow morning.

drn

Ecuador South America

Return From the Jungle

Thursday morning I woke up at 5am and caught a canoe at 5:30, which took me back to the Rio Napo where a motorized canoe made the 2.5 hour journey back to the port of Coca. The air was cool and thick with wet fog. Once there we caught a pickup truck back to the airport. It was pretty squishy in the cab, so I volunteered to ride in the back with the luggage as we wound our way through the lively and dirty streets of Coca.

Arriving back in Quito, i returned to my hotel where i had a much-needed hot shower. Soon i was back out on the street.

What a change from the Quito of Sunday! The whole city is alive and bustling. Where there had been only closed doors before were now hold in the wall bodegas and boutiques, restaurants and bars. Women on the streets walked around selling everything from pencils and toothbrushes to baskets of fresh fruit and cups of hot soup. I am totally enjoying Quito. It is so lively.

I spent about an hour and a half looking for a store that sold disposable cameras and then I visited the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus, Ecuador´s most Ornate Church. It is very lovely.

After the church I had a delicious lunch at a restaurant located underneath the San Francisco monastery. It was so cozy with low, arched ceiling carved from stone and local art on the walls. I had lunch and then a coca tea and a cigar on the square.

After lunch i tackled the Basilica de Voto National, an enormous church which looks like an old gothic creation, but was actually built in the 20thC. The cool things about this church is that you can climb right up the bell tower – on the outside. Fist you go up many stairs to the top of the interiors, then you cross a rickety wooded bridge through the church´s attic. At the other end, you climb a tall ladder (virtually in the dark) which takes you up and outside. From there there are 3 metal ladders up to the top. I am not afraid of heights, but i must admit that i thought twice before making the climb. The ladders looked flimsy and even though they had handrails, a fall would mean certain death. To make matters worse, it was raining, so they were slippery. Casting caution aside, i made the climb and was rewarded with spectacular views over the city.

I then walked to the Plaza del Teatro and had a glass of wine and a cigar with two lovely women from Arizona.

After that pleasant interlude, i walked down to the street La Ronda. On Sunday it had been a ghost town, but now it was lined with stores selling crafts and cafes selling alcohol, coffee and hot chocolate. I selected one of the many restaurants and had a delicious bowl of potato-corn-avocado soup, served with tortilla chips.

After dinner, i was walking back to my hotel when i hear wonderful Spanish music coming from an alleyway. I followed the music and found that in what was a space between two buildings, a stage had been set up and there was a performance of traditional Ecuadorian dances. I sat and watched for about a half an hour. The music, dances and costumes were incredible. And it was free; just there for the enjoyment of the public.

Back at my hotel, i slept soundly; a perfect end to a great day.
d

Ecuador South America

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I arrived in Quito, Ecuador last night after a wonderful flight (two wonderful flights actually). On the first one, i had three seats to myself and had Direct TV, so I watched Spongebob and an awesomely bad movie called ¨Mega Shark v the Giant Squid¨.

I arrived at about 10:30 and caught a taxi to my hotel, the Hotel de San Francisco in the Centro Historico of Quito. I like my hotel. It is in a converted historic house with all of the rooms looking out onto a courtyard filled with plants.

My room is simple, but is comfortable and clean and has hot water and a free breakfast – for $20 a night, what else could you want?

I had a brief sleep then awoke, ready to tackle Quito.

I am pleased to report that i do not seem to be suffering from any symptoms of altitude sickness (Quito is at 2850 m, in the Andes). I feel a bit tired, but other than that I am ok.
Sunday is a lousy place to arrive anywhere, as everything is closed….except the churches. Fortunately, I like visiting churches and most of them let me in even though they were in the middle of their Sunday masses. The churches are beautiful and similar to what you would see in Europe, although they are a bit more colorful and a bit rougher around the edges. Out side all of the churches (all over the place, actually) are tiny shriveled women and dirty children selling religious pictures, candles, bits of wood and shoelaces. I am pleased that most of the older women dress in the traditional Ecuadorian style with traditional hats, braided hair, ponchos, and heavy skirts.

I am not going to name every place I went to, so I’ll just say that i wandered through broken cobble stone streets dirty alleyways and pristine squares. Much of the historic centre is pretty run down and dirty (but in a charming way) – stray dogs running around, children playing in the street, garbage and shabby storefronts, but other parts of it have been lovingly restored or maintained and those areas are quite exquisite. The Plaza Grande in wonderful. It is fulled with flowering trees and benches and in framed by a cathedral and the national palace. The square was filled with people whiling away their Sundays after church. It was also filled with tiny, desperate boys, maybe 4 or 5 years old, begging to shine your shoes. If they had cockney accents they would be right out of Oliver Twist.

I sat in the Plaza Grande and smoked a cigar while wearing my new Panama Hat! That´s right, i bought a hat. Sure, it makes me look like a tourist, but i don´t care. It was $10 and i like it. I feel like Skye Masterson.

Things here are ridiculously inexpensive. I think you would struggle to try to spend $20 a day. I bought a coffee for 30 cents and three bananas for a dime.

I didn´t get to look in many shops today because they were closed due to the whole Catholic thing, but there were plenty of people hawing their wares on the street. (Hence the hat.)

I went to a museum showing contemporary Ecuadorian photography, which was quite good, and i took a delightful tour of a historic home which had beautiful furnishings but dreadful art.

I went to a market where women were selling produce and grains and meat. I bought some fruit i have never had before. It looked like a prickly pear, but tasted more like a dragon fruit. It was good. I saw merchants selling all manner of hideousness – guinea pigs, testicles, (well, where i can go from there?). There wasn’t a lot for me to eat other than the fruit. I think it would be difficult to live here and be a vegetarian. There are some international restaurants, but they are in the new part of town. So I am eating fruit and bread.

So after all of my wandering i caught 2 different buses which took my to La Mitad Del Mundo – The Equator. The bus ride was a bit difficult as no one here speaks English (not even at my hotel) and my Spanish is pretty much limited to what I learned on Sesame Street. But i found my way. The ride took about an hour and a half and cost 40 cents.

On Sundays at the equator they have live music. It was great, there is a stage and a little square ringed with restaurants and shops. People were dancing. I had dinner at a cozy little eatery, the first i had seen all day with anything meatless. I had a dinner of corn on the cob, boiled lima beans and boiled potatoes. No spices, no butter, just plain. It was the best thing i have ever eaten, and i don´t even like corn on the cob. The lima beans were outstanding. (Maybe i am suffering from altitude sickness after all.)

Tomorrow i am going to fly to Coca and then journey about 3 hours by canoe and foot into the Amazon Jungle, where i will be staying along the Rio Napo. I can´t wait.
Sorry if this is kind of long and general, but i did a lot today and i have limited time on the computer. I will close with a few random observations:
-The weather was beautifully warm today and is cool this evening.
-There are lots of dogs – tough looking street dogs. They don´t look like they would bite you, but they might mug you.
-The men are super annoying with their constant come-ons and cat calls.
-Everyone here is tiny. I feel like an 8 foot tall albino by comparison.

I have no idea if the main building of the place where I am staying has a computer. They only have electricity for part of the day, so i kind of doubt it. If you have not heard from me by Monday night, then I am ¨off the grid´ and I will blog about my jungle adventure on Thursday evening.
Adios, all.
d

Tag: Quito