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Published: March 20th 2008
Ceremonial Mask
Estimated to be around 2000 years old. The figure of this mask shows up as a logo everywhere for Ecuadorian antiquitiesQuito - March 8-10
First, just an update on me: I am now at home in Edmonton, I arrived here on March 14th after spending 3 nights in Calgary. This will be my last blog entry for my Ecuador trip. I will resurrect the blog in June when I venture off to Alaska on a motorcycle trip.
I flew from Cuenca to Quito on the morning of March 8, starting my trip home. I decided that I would spend three nights in Quito before my flight home on the 11th. I was undecided up until the last week on whether I would visit Quito. Cuenca was such a nice city, and the thought of Quito with over a million people wasn’t that attractive to me. In the end, I was glad I took the time.
Quito is the capital of Ecuador, and is in the middle of the Andes mountains at an elevation of about 3000 meters above sea level. Quito could be described as a long narrow strip, as it runs up and down a valley. Like many of the cities in modern Ecuador, it has its roots in the early indigenous population, and was redesigned and
built up by the Spanish conquerors starting in the 1500’s. After living in Cuenca for a couple of months, I could see the pattern on how the Spanish designed their cities. They would build a central town square or park, and surround it with the important buildings, usually a cathedral, federal and city government buildings, and a residence for the bishop or archbishop. The history and architecture is amazing. Considering there wasn’t much in western Canada until not much more than 100 years ago, this evidence of 500 year old history was really different and interesting for me. The construction of Quito continued on through the 16 and 1700’s true to the original plans.
I asked the travel agency in Cuenca to find me somewhere to stay in Quito within walking distance of the “old town”, and they found a hostel for me close by. The
Secret Garden is a hostel in the San Blas area of Quito, about a 15 minute walk from the main square. The building was very narrow and tall, probably only about 5 meters wide, and 4 storeys up. I thought the building had a lot of character; the stairs from level to level were
a bit of a maze. The rooms were off in every direction down mysterious hallways. There was a covered bar and restaurant in the open air on the roof, providing a lovely view of the old town and mountains. I definitely felt like an old fart, the average age of the cliental was probably about 25. It was also a haven for English speakers, aside from the staff, I heard little Spanish spoken there. I had some reverse culture-shock after living in Spanish for the previous two months. The hostel served breakfast and supper each day up on the roof, and I found it convenient to do so; and the food was great.
I arrived at the hostel around noon on the Saturday, and after stowing my gear, took off to the “Museo del Banco Central”. The government bank of Ecuador has some lovely museums, and I had heard the one in Quito was worth seeing. Unlike the museum in Cuenca, this one had many more relics from the early times, and also a room with many examples of the gold artefacts that kept the Spanish interested for so many years.
On Sunday, I got up early and
went for a long walk around the old town. I discovered that the police shut down many of the streets on Sundays for pedestrians; a large number of people come to the old town to attend the many churches there.
On Monday, I went up the “Teleferiqo” or tram to a viewpoint that sits over Quito at about 4000 meters above sea level. There were quite a few clouds around that obscured the complete view that could be had from up there. Apparently on a clear day you can see some of the local volcanoes such as Cotopaxi. The top of the tram is on a peak called “Cruz Loma”, which is a spur from the larger peak that is part of the Pichincha Volcano. Despite the clouds, there were some great views available, and the changing clouds and sunlight gave different views every minute. I spent about 3 hours walking around Cruz Loma enjoying the views.
Tuesday the 11th was a long day. My flight from Quito to Houston left at 6:30 AM. I arranged for a taxi the night before to pick me up at 4, and I set my alarm to 3. I awoke at
2 and got up to pee, never getting back to sleep. I arrived in Houston about noon, and stood in line for an hour to clear immigration. I had a nice lunch of seafood at the airport, bought a book, and sat down to read until my flight at 6 PM. I arrived in Calgary about 9:30 (gaining an hour flying west). I visited with Helen and Art in Calgary, and my sister Sue in Bragg Creek before driving home on Friday morning.
This wraps up my trip to Ecuador! I’m already planning to go back in January 2009 for a few months.
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Sherry Loof
non-member comment
It ends too soon.
John, we've thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. You not only write well, but you also take beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing your adventures. Pete and I look forward to the next instalments. Sherry