Blogs from Historical Center, Quito, North, Ecuador, South America - page 3

Quito - 11/26/2014 - Day 3 We both got a little sunburned yesterday. The sun is high and the air thinner, so more susceptible. Ate breakfast at the hotel, then headed out. Fresh tomato juice and papaya today. For the coffee, they give you a full cup of hot milk/cream. You then add instant coffee, cocoa, and sugar to taste. Today we decided to take the tram up the mountain (Volcan Pichincha). Our plan was to take a shuttle to the base, but because of limited Spanish we ended up on a city bus. But that's part of the adventure. Cheap ride at $.25 each. It wasn't a direct route, we drove through much of Quito before we got there. There are many buses and they are very crowded. Sometimes you see people hanging on the ... read more

Quito - 11/24/2014 - Day 1 A long travel day today. Departure time was 6:45am, but we left a half hour or so late because of plane de-icing. Had a four hour layover in Miami. Just hung out at the airport. Decided to take a bus to check out South Beach on the return trip, when we have more time. Checked out a couple of small art exhibits in the terminal, underwater photography and digital art. Plane to Quito left from Concourse H. A little problem finding it, based on a couple of conflicting walking directions within the terminal, and a suggestion to actually go outside the terminal and take a shuttle. Arrived in Quito on time, about 8:30pm. The Quito airport is very modern and efficient. Found a taxi to take us to Quito old ... read more

Quito is a quixotic mixture of Spanish colonial grandeur and third world pollution and poverty. The climate also, swings between sunny intervals and torrential downpours, varied and never dull! It has taken us two days to adjust to the thin air, longer than we hoped. Quito is 2,800 metres (9,350 feet) above sea level. We might have skied from this height before (not sure, maybe not) but certainly we have never lived and slept at such altitude. It has also taken us a while to adjust to the strong smell of cheap petrol fumes, which are so strong, one can taste them. John Sawyer, if you read this, remember the fumes in Moscow? It isn’t quite so bad here, but close! A great pity, because it is a beautiful city in a stunning location, high in ... read more

The title of this blog says it all. Unless you are a marathon walker, and daily climb hundreds of stairs and scale small peaks as part of your workout regimen, a walking tour of Quito is not ...repeat..NOT..recommended. My goal, as I have stated often, and perhaps earlier in this blog, but I´m too tired to go back and read and see if I did, is to experience Ecuador from an arm´s reach and eye level perspective. This ideally should involve lots of walking about, seeing the country as it appears to one on the street, not someone in a tour bus or rental car. By the time I got to the Ecuadorian Museum of Culture, I had no interest in taking another step, much less wander about the halls of a museum, studiously reading exhibit ... read more

bevor wir ein letztes mal durch die feuchtgrüne hochlandschaft santa cruz' richtung flughafen fahren, muss ich euch noch erzählen, wie sehr die tiere hier auch von den einheimischen geschätzt werden. für die tötung einer schildkröte droht die selbe strafe, wie für das töten eines menschen. ein gekillter iguana kostet $8.000,- bußgeld. das musste ich hier noch teilen, weil ich es so faszinierend finde, auch wenn markus meint, für eine tote schildkröte kriegt man nicht 15 jahre gefängnis, sondern “nur” sehr, sehr mieses karma… aber ich bin mir da nicht so sicher! wir erreichen also baltra und fliegen wieder über guayaquil nach quito. von dort zur scala shopping mall, wo wir fabián treffen. leider mit schlechten neuigkeiten. markus' kamera konnte aufgrund fehlender ersatzteile nicht repariert werden! die “gute” nachricht, dass nichts schlimmes kaputt ist, macht die ernüchterung ... read more