European Flavor in Old Town Quito

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito
November 5th 2007

Published: November 6th 2007

Edit Blog Post

Two Canadians Eh

Old Town Quito

The church we climbed, the Basilica del Voto Nacional is in the background.

¡Hola from Quito!

We have been here since Saturday evening, and the hope was that we would be able to book our cruise to the Galapagos first thing on Sunday morning. Unfortunately though, nothing is open on a Sunday in Ecuador! We spent the day twiddling our thumbs and exploring a wee bit.

The city is sort of divided into two sections - Old Town, where all the history and charm seems to be, and New Town, aka "The Travellers Ghetto." Accommodations are phenomenally cheap in New Town, as in, $5 per person for a room with a double bed and ensuite bathroom! The catch is that the neighbourhood almost completely closes down on Sundays and is quite dangerous after dark because the streets are deserted. However, during the day, it is wonderful! The streets are quite safe, filled with people, and we're in great proximity to bistros, travel agents and internet cafes.

We've been gaining our travel confidence a bit - even venturing out a few times at night (for food and internet). We're learning that if we leave everything in the hostel, we walk with less far because we have nothing to lose. So far we

More of the Basilica

haven't had any problems and that has been pretty liberating because the "safety issues" have been rough to deal with. It is hard to let go and have fun when you're worried about being robbed! Quito though has been AMAZING... we both feel safer here than anywhere else so far in South America and are really wishing we had given ourselves more time to explore this country!

Today we arranged a Galapagos tour. It was a little harder than we thought and ended up combining two shorter tours because last minute cruises within our price range don't really exist. We are doing a two day tour of Isabella Island, an island with active volcanos and a flamingo lake that is often missed by most of the tours. After Isabella we jump onto a 3 night, 4 day cruise to some of the more popular islands. We leave tommorrow morning and can't wait!

As for exploring Quito, we spent our day in Old Town Quito today... it has such a European flavor to it (ha ha, although we have both yet to experience Europe.) Think of cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings with balconys overlooking the streets, horses in carriages

The Basilica From Outside

We climbed to the tower above the door that is on the right.

- for las turistas of course, and a mishmash of churches, squares, monuments and statues. We did a lot of wandering and church hoping today, popping in and out of a bunch of them. The biggest one we took on was the Basilica del Voto Nacional, where for $2 we climbed way up to the top of the old towers. After crossing the attic of the church via rickety wooden plank, we went up an incredibly steep set of stairs and ladders to the lookout of the towers. It was a little nerve wracking, but the view was well worth it. The other memorable church of the day was the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus - easily Ecuadors most impressive church! Seven tons of gold were used to decorate the interior and construction took 165 years to complete (1605-1765). It was quite the site to see! We also found another local artist and purchased a painting of "typical" Old Town Quito. Searching for artwork is going to be something to look forward to over the next year!

Random: Guinea pig is a popular meal here. Trevor tried to order it for dinner tonight, just to say he'd tried

Campbell Soup

The Cultural Museum was featuring Andy Warhol.

it. Thank goodness they were sold out. Yuck!

Happy Travels,
Team Canada

**** And for Other Travellers ****
- If your goal is to arrive in Ecuador and book a trip to the Galapagos, give yourself a good window of time. Last minute deals do exist (there are agencies EVERYWHERE offering them on Amazonas Ave), but sometimes you need to wait as much as a week for the tour to start.
- Taxi rides between Old Town and New Town are only about $2-3

Additional photos below

Photos: 25, Displayed: 24