Advertisement
Published: March 7th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Which states chicken do you want in Quito?
KFC's are all over the place, though not many "Texas Chicken" besides this one. I just wrote a huge travel journal on my MacBook, but I'll spare you some of my diarrhea of the mouth. Perhaps another time you can read my thoughts that are either interesting or just long-winded.
Anyway, Let's do a shorter synopsis of the day...today was Ciudad Viejo (Old Town). This is Latin America as you might picture it, and far more interesting than what I had seen so far. Narrow cobblestone streets with only small individual storefronts (as opposed to “big box” stores). The streets were VERY hilly too...it reminded me of San Francisco (at least for the hilliness). Keep in mind that you're at 9300 ft high above sea level. I haven’t really had headaches or altitude sickness, but I had no problem with walking back up the steep hills at a nice leisurely pace. There were the plazas outside the big Catholic cathedrals. There were the Catholic schools, boys and girls seemingly separated, with the children in their school uniforms. There were people dressed not only in more traditional “Ecuadorian” garb, but also more modern dress, from very casual to more formal and businesslike. It is what you'd want to see as a tourist, something different and
Cloudy day but...
You can get some sense of how close the mountains are to the city. Look at a map and you'll see how the city grew along the mountain range. authentic. Interestingly enough, there were very few tourists and even fewer Americans. There must be tourists to Ciudad Viejo as they have an info booth and signs geared to tourists, but there were plenty of times I was the lone gringo in sight. Oh, well...helps for me for the authentic feel.
Besides the general observation on life in Ciudad Viejo with its architecture and layout, there were two places I specifically toured, El Palacio de Carondelet or Palacio de Gobierno (the Presidental Palace), and the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus). The Presidential Palace was okay, though I’m glad it was a free tour. First, the tour was entirely in Spanish, which is understandable considering the vast majority of people going there are Spanish speaking. However, tried as I might I only caught words here and there I understood. Fortunately for me a new acquaintance, Jason from Madison, was with this tour and spoke much more fluent English than myself. He did some translation, more for the German tourists and his wife than me but also to my benefit. Following that we took a look at the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus
St. Augustin Street in Old Town
All translated to English for you...otherwise it's Calle de St. Augustin in Ciudad Viejo. (Church of the Society of Jesus). Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed but it was magnificent in the detail and gold inlay throughout the church. Definitely something to see, even at a $2 admission donation ($1 if you're a local).
I took the Trole Bus to the Old Town, basically a light rail train. Hard to beat the price at 25 cents but be ready to give up any notion of personal space. People will load on the train 'til the door literally will not close. So, it was stuffy on the train but was tolerable (at least for me). I also took the train back and got a lesson in faith in myself and the Big Guy upstairs. On the way back the sign showing signs had seemingly different names for stops. At first, I told myself it was because the line temporarily split as it wandered back north. However, the names never became familiar (though some of the sights were, at least best as I could see on the jam-packed train). I eventually felt I should get off the train, now into what was more than the light rain drizzle I had experienced most of the day. I
Typical Old Town Street
Note the Virgen in the distance. I didn't make it to the statue but it's huge and from that point, "El Panciello"you can see much of the city started walking in the direction I felt I wanted to go but recognized pretty much nothing. It was still daytime and nothing looked particularly dangerous, but there was a small bit of worry in me. It was raining just enough and I wasn’t especially any longer in the mood to do that much exploring. I calmed myself with the knowledge in worst case scenario I get into a cab back to the address I had on me. But I didn’t want to concede defeat or part with the extra dollars. So I kept walking in what seemed like the right direction and through local neighborhoods. Finally, I found at least a sign pointing the direction to a street name I recognized (Av. 6 de Diciembre...note many streets in Quito are named for important historical dates, as was the case in Nicaragua so apparently a Latin American thing). I walked that way, though I still wasn’t sure I was really going the right way. Finally, I saw a building that if it was what I thought was the Marriott Hotel. If it’s the Marriott, I know where I am and how to get home. If it’s not, then I’m lost in
a city where I speak little of the language and am not sure if I can ask the right questions, not to mention understand the answers. Turns out it was the Marriott so while pretty wet, I eventually made it back to the hostal to wind down the evening in Gringoland.
I was later going to go to the supermarket for water and some basic food. However, along the way I encountered a huge protest march over the events in Columbia. Here is the first time I have seen some actual reason to be concerned about the politics of the nation. On the way, I saw up the street hundreds of people marching in the street waving Ecuadorian flags and other signs. At first I couldn’t see what the signs said, but had a pretty good idea considering the news. I did eventually see a sign saying “Uribe” (president of Colombia) which confirmed what I suspected. Hmmm...I think the lone gringo holding the American passport should pass on entering that emotional crowd for cheap bottles of water.
Back in the Mariscal neighborhood, I had one other interesting experience while looking or eating dinner.I told you I had seen
very little begging for money so far. Yes, a young child here or there, but not much else. Tonight I was asked two times for money by adults, but here’s the catch: it’s not the Quitenos asking but English speaking tourists. The first claimed he forgot there is a $40 departure tax at the airport where he is going tomorrow and wondered if I could help out. He was bold in his initial request of $5-10. To his credit, he did offer his cigarettes and even shoes. Ultimately I gave him about 50 cents telling him take it or leave it. He did remind me a call to wherever he’s from is about $3 and I declined further offers. Who knows how true the story is, but it blew me away you would travel around the world on so few dollars that one $40 unexpected expense would seriously break you. I didn’t think about mentioning that at the time but will if it happens again. I also should have mentioned to him he has enough change in what I gave him to call his embassy for assistance. Later, I was approached by a couple who claimed their bags were stolen
and needed a few bucks to stay in a cheap motel they found. I actually only had $1 on me in cash at that point (left most of my stuff at the hostel and had already eaten), so I declined that request. This gentleman of the couple was more polite, though. However, it’s really odd to be begged for money twice by tourists and rarely from presumably poorer locals. I hope I’m not being cold-hearted or too cynical...there just seems to be something odd in the vibes I’m getting.
There's another day and, yes, that is the shorter version...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb