Quito, feels like home!

Andrea and I finally arrived in Quito some five hours after crossing the border at Tulcan. We had reserved a single night at Boutiquito, a new and trendy hostel, if not a little on the expensive side, before heading over to Cumbaya in the east of Quito to see my aunt, uncle and cousins. It had been eighteen years since last seeing my Ecuadorian/ English family all together and we were both excited.

It had in fact been some time since either of us had seen any family, had a nice comfy bed to sleep in, cooked in a well equipped kitchen, and been able to base ourselves in a beautiful part of South America. Things had changed a lot in Cumbaya since my last visit and it now looked very much like a small modern city in the US, with upmarket shopping malls, Mercedes Benz dealerships, and the top university in Ecuador, attracting a large amount of American exchange students. My Aunt had spent the past 45 years living in Quito since marrying an Ecuadorian guy, and I had made it to Ecuador only twice to visit and met them in Florida a couple of times. We now enjoyed family meals, day trips to the surrounding volcanoes, nights out in Quito, and seeing the progress of Ecuadorian workers building the new family home.

Did I almost forget about the fanesca soup? This is arguably the best in Quito, handmade by my aunt over two days to a strict and secret Recalde recipe. So good to devour three bowls of the stuff, made as part of the countries Easter celebrations. Muchas gracias por todo!

Now that we had personal translation services I planned on taking advantage and visited a private hospital for MRI and X-Rays, the dentist for a couple of fancy new white fillings, and a special kind of doctor that might be able to provide some assistance for the hip discomfort I was experiencing. Thanks Maria-Christina for translating at the dentist otherwise I would now probably have no teeth!

For us to get into Quito took us only thirty minutes by bus, where we then had to walk to the Mariscal tourist area or utilize a very efficient metro bus system to get to the old part of the city. We loved it here! Travel beyond Quito was more of a pain, mainly due to Quito’s long length and narrow width – there are a number of bus terminals, depending on whether you are heading to the north or the south. We often had to utilize three buses, just to arrive at the correct terminal.

• Carcelén – Av. Eloy Alfaro and Av. Galo Plaza Lasso (North) – Mitad del Mundo, Otavalo, Atacames, Esmeraldas, Santa Domingo
• Quitumbe – Av. Cóndor Ñan and Av. Mariscal Sucre (South) – Baños, Amazonian provinces, Quito’s new airport
• Terminal Ofelia Station (North) – Mindo

Historical Quito
Located to the center south in the city, the historical district of Quito is full of churches, plazas, galleries, museums, government buildings, and a lively, somewhat chaotic atmosphere. A trolleybus system, buses and taxis, all make it a very convenient location to arrive at for a day. Spend time strolling around the monuments, checking out the amazing variety of church interiors, food tasting in La Ronda, best on a Friday evening, and seeing the area from El Panecillo complete with its monument to the Virgin Mary.

For some reason we only visited twice, once for a church photo session on an overcast Monday afternoon, and the second time with my aunt and uncle to see a local orchestra perform in the main plaza – this was pretty spectacular, with some very traditional Andean instruments being played in a unique setting.

La Mariscal
Definitely the lively part of town and the center of entertainment, full of hostels, hotels, language schools, bars, clubs, tourist shops, and travel agencies offering last minute deals to the Galapagos Islands and the Oriente. Incidentally, where we found the Tip Top travel office for our Galapagos cruise.

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo
After an unexpected three bus journey to get the 20 or so miles to the San Antonio parish to the north of Quito, we were pleasantly surprised by how few visitors were at the site.This was my first visit to this center of the world monument, built between 1979 and 1982, and still 240 feet away from the true center – the older monument was moved to a small town called Calacali 7km away. An impressive 30 meters tall with each side facing a cardinal point, the monument houses a small museum, and comes with a huge five ton ball on top.

Over the course of our travels within Ecuador we also got to see the Quitsato sundial which lies directly on the equator, close to Cayambe to the north of Quito. What makes this archeological location impressive is that its part of a much larger astronomy infrastructure, with other sites in Quito and the surrounding area. The pre-Incan Quitu-Caranqui indigenous people of the area knew the exact position of the equator long before modern day man did!

February 16th – April 17th 2014