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Published: March 16th 2023
We were excited to arrive in Quito, Ecuador as this is the location where our friend and travel companion
bvchef would join us. Serious excitement as we were getting the band back together! Past exploits placed us in Jordan, Egypt, Portugal, California, and Florida. We travel very well together and had been planning this one for nearly a year. And now the time had arrived….
On the evening we arrived we noticed the streets were crowded and lots of celebrations were going on. We hadn’t realized we were in the middle of Carnival when we arrived. After dinner we took a short walk to observe some of the parades, dancing and celebrations. All of the locals were having a great time. During Carnival they used to throw water on one another. Over time they realized this was not a great idea and we are told it was outlawed. Now a days they run around with large canisters of foam that comes flying out like silly string. They spray everything and everyone they can… so beware… you will get sprayed during the celebration! Again, we were caught by surprise to see locals out sweeping the streets the next morning cleaning the
Middle of the World
Changes in Latitudestrash from the celebrations. In many cities we’ve been too they would have wait for it to blow away or rot. Their pride in keeping Ecuador clean is evident.
Quito was built on the ruins of an Incan city in the 16
th century. We read that Quito has one of the best preserved, least altered historic city centers in Latin America. As a UNESCO Heritage Site parts of the city are well cared for. Quito is one of those cities in the clouds, located in the highlands, near volcanos and is located at 9350 feet elevation. Second highest world capital, second only to La Paz. The sun comes out for a bit and then the puffy clouds roll back in for a bit. Quito has diverse ever-changing weather. We came prepared by taking Diamox so it would assist us in acclimating to the altitude. We live at sea level, so the medication helps us to adjust much quicker to the thin air. One thing that caught our attention early on is Quito is far cleaner than several of the South American cities we have visited recently. We found this to be refreshing.
Quito Walking Tour It had
Shrimp Ceviche
Cooking with Maria been a while since we signed up for a free walking tour but were certainly glad, we found this one. Our guide, Alejandra was charming and full of life. The tour began at the Central Market. It is hard to say how many markets we’ve visited over the year, but this one was so much cleaner than most. Alejandra grabbed unique fruits found in this region to cut up and share with the group. (tomarillo, jackfruit, guava, passion fruit). We discussed how each of these fruits were used and farmed. There were also roses. Roses, roses and more roses… many of the roses you buy in the store are likely to have come from Ecuador. Alejandra shared with us that it is not uncommon for local women to be given two or three dozen roses from their spouses as they only cost about a $1 a dozen. As we wandered the stall of the market, we saw things you see around the world like pigs feet piled high, intestines and other interesting animal parts. Vendors were making and selling empanadas, smoothies, and sandwiches. There is something for everyone in the market.
As we continued the walk through the city
streets we learned more about the country’s history, political challenges and discussed the amazing architecture and learned about the 50 volcanos in Ecuador of which about 20 of them are active.
One thing we found fascinating is the fact that Ecuador has used American dollars since the year 2000. Usually in South America, the basic denomination is a peso of some kind and that was once true in Ecuador as well until the late 1800’s when it was renamed the sucre after a Latin American revolutionary. Fast forward to the late part of the 20
th century when the sucre found itself devalued considerably against the U.S. dollar. Long story short, the president of Ecuador announced in 2000 that the U.S. dollar would be adopted as the official currency. He was sacked, but his successor kept the dollar. Kind of nice to visit a country and not have to worry about converting money. Ecuador also uses the same electrical current as the U.S., so no convertors to worry about.
Our next stop was a local hotel that offered chocolate tastings and of course we were all in. The presentation discussed the growing and processing of chocolate and the Ecuadorians
We are in the clouds
Elevation 9350 feet. are proud of the chordate they produce. The walking tour ended in the town square where suggestions were given as to how to fill the rest of our day. Ecuadorians love cheese, but there are not many local varieties to choose from. They have a white cheese that goes on many things. Vendors in the square were selling bananas warmed and split and decorated in cheese. They even put it in their hot chocolate! The recommended tip for the free tour was $8 and well worth it.
Cotopaxi Hike & Horseback Ride Traveling often gives us an opportunity to partake in activities we might not do at home. On this trip we signed up for a hike and a horseback ride in the National Park. When you pack for a six week trip, it's challenging to pack everything you need. For this particular part of the trip, we did not anticipate needing such amenities as gloves and caps. Lucky for us, as we approached our next adventure, we stopped at place that sold these very items.....yeah...we're not the first travelers that showed up with a need. Of course if we knew ahead of time where we would be
exactly, we might have tried to mitigate the need, but not so this time. The temps were quite coldish where we were headed, so we the nice lady sold us knit gloves and a cap for each of us...and we headed on.
Full discloser….we are not “hikers” and have never pretended to be. We enjoy a good walk but let’s face it we live at sea level. We go these beautiful places and get tempted to get out and see what we can do. This hike at the Cotopaxi volcano started at the parking lot for basecamp which was 15,000 feet and went up in a zig zag fashion to the 16,000-elevation camp. We foolishly thought we would give it a try. Fortunately, we are realists and quickly realized the hike was too strenuous for us even with the Diamox we had been taking. We were winded easily. A few minutes into the climb we informed Brendan and our guide Pedro that we would stay at the bottom and wait for them. We had a great time taking photos from our little perch and talking with other hikers as they advanced on the climb. We watched Brendan as he
Cows Feet
Enjoying the market zig-zagged the way to the top and we had to laugh as Brendan was in the lead. When he returned, we laughed and told him we think he is supposed to let the guide be in the front. LOL. Brendan climbed that thing like a Billy goat! The smile on his face told us what a great hike he had.
Every few years we get a jag to saddle up a horse and ride… well… more like sit on the horse and see where they’d like to take us. And this was the day. Our route was two and a half hours riding (more like meandering)... following our guide and his lead horse through this lovely National Park. We traveled along the river stream, up and down a few hills and around a large mound of ground. Anytime we stopped, the horses took this as a cue to chew on some grass. It was if they were thinking “we’re taking a break and getting a nibble.” Our route was incredlbly scenic. Our horses Tequila, Whiskey and White Wind served us well. This part of Ecuador has a fair amount of wild horses and we encountered a few on our
ride. As we approached, they became more interested and we thought they might join us for a while. Not so....they feigned interest, then moved away and we proceeded. Then there is the feeling you get when you know you have not been on a horse for a while. When you're not used to being on the back of horse, the potential to be sore the following day was certainly there. We were quite amazed the next day when we were not particularly sore. Dave was particularly surprised as he experienced some saddle soreness during the ride. Extra strength Tylenol to the rescue.
Middle of the World If you have some global awareness, you may have noticed that Ecuador is on the equator. As much as we enjoy going off the beaten path there are certain touristy things you must do and going to the actual equator is one of them. From geography class you will remember that the equator is the imaginary line or circle of latitude that divides the world between the northern and southern hemisphere, the halfway point between the north and south poles. As you can imagine a location like this would be worthy of
Roses Abound
The U.S. gets many roses from Ecuador. signage, so we set out to get a photo op at this location. As it turns out there are two locations to visit. One is correct and the other is not. Say what?
Less than hour from Quito is Cuidad del Mundo or Middle of the World City. A large monument was constructed of iron, concrete and andesite stone in the late 70’s to mark the location of the equator based on knowledge gained in 1736. Later, with modern GPS it was determined that the measurements were off by 240 meters, so they moved to a new site. These days you can go to both the real and the mistaken equator. The real one is done very well and is in a very nice museum. We were involved in several science experiments that revolved about the gravitational pull of the universe. It was a lot of fun. The fake one as we refer to it is a big tourist trap with shops, restaurants, and a circus like atmosphere in our opinion. Makes for nice pictures for the tourists, but not much else. The owner of the boutique hotel we are staying in assisted in arranging this day trip. For
$60 total she provided us with a driver who would take us to a beautiful crater, the museum and these two monuments. He would sit and wait while we were exploring. What a great deal!
While out exploring we stopped by Pululahua Crater and the nearby botanical garden to take a look. We enjoyed very scenic views.
Cooking Class As you know we are self-proclaimed foodies. And on this trip, we’re hanging with a real chef! When we travel, we enjoy finding ways to immerse ourselves and so we often take cooking classes. Food is love and it allows you to glimpse the soul of a country and culture. Brendan had arranged our class via the Traveling Spoon with Maria. We were instructed to meet in front of a pharmacy near her house and she would pick us up as she was in a suburban gated community. The time came and went, and we began to think Maria was unreliable. With a quick phone call, we learned that a slight error was made in scheduling and had arrived at the class a month early! Whoops… somehow, we requested March 23 instead of February 23
rd. All is well
Cotopaxi Volcano
On a sunny day... gift from our guide. as Maria agreed to come pick us up in 5 minutes and give us the class on the day, we thought we were scheduled. What an amazing outcome considering the travel bump this could have become.
Maria has a lovely home. After a quick tour of her gardens, we were in the kitchen getting an overview of what the evening would hold. We donned our aprons, and each were giving assignments, we were offered cocktails to sip while we did our cooking and given sharp knives to get our meal moving forward. Brendan is very low key about the fact that he is a chef when we take these classes. He wants to enjoy the class and see what he can learn just like everyone else would. Brendan has kitchen skills, so his secret is generally figured out early in the class, but he avoids the information until it comes out naturally.
Our meal tonight was a simple one of shrimp ceviche and plantain empanadas. In Ecuador, the ceviche is more of a soup rather than dip as we might have in the U.S. The soup was served with freshly made plantain chips. Maria is wicked with the
mandolin and made quick work of the chips. The empanadas were a plantain dough filled with cheese and pan fried. If you’d like more details on each of these recipes pop down and read Brendan’s blog below. It was lovely learning to make the plantain empanadas as that was something new and unusual that we have not seen before. Maria taught a couple of new tricks by using plastic wrap during the crimping process it makes it easier.
We had a fun evening and enjoyed Maria’s cooking class.
Where we stayed: Hotel Casa Alquimia – before Galapagos
Hotel Colonial San Augustino – after Galapagos
Restaurants recommended: La Vid
Casa Los Geranios
Latin American
We frequently travel with our friend Brendan.
Brendan has a very funny sense of humor and writing style. You may want to check out his blogs from our trip.
Good Grief, I'm High Again Are You Kidding Me? I Am Even Higher?? Ecuadorian Cooking Class, but What Month??
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Alexander Toledo
non-member comment
South America
Great to see you travel MJ! I'd like to head to South America too....thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm inspired. Big hug! Alex