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Published: March 4th 2010
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Quito is undoubtedly a very beautiful city. It does have some serious problems, predominantly crime and transport issues, but the colonial centre is certainly amongst the most picturesque in South America. The hostel I stayed at, the Belmont, was only a 5 minute walk from the main square, so most things of interest in the city were right on my doorstep. At the heart of the city is the Plaza de la Independencia, which is surrounded by the cathedral, the Presidential Palace and the Archbishop´s Palace. Everyday there are free tours of the Presidential Palace, so after lunch in a vegetarian restaurant ($1.50 for 2 courses) I queued up for the tour. The guide showed us around many of the state rooms, which were all very interesting, but as Cabinet was in session we were not able to see everything. The atmosphere compared to Colombia was so different, in Bogota it was impossible to get within 200m of the Senate or the Presidential Palace, whereas in Quito we walked straight past the door to the Cabinet room where ministers were meeting. The guide took a picture of everyone at the beginning of the tour, which I thought was for security, but
it turned out to be a souvenir photo which we all got at the end, which was a very friendly touch. The other large squares and rambling streets in the city were all interesting to explore, as were the many preserved colonial churches that appear on virtually almost every corner. For me, the star attraction of Quito was the Basilica. With an appearance similar to a gothic European cathedral, only close up do you notice that the gargoyles are actually stone iguanas and galapagos turtles. For a fee of $2, you can climb both the spire and one of the bell towers; the system of narrow ladders to get to the top of both would certainly not be approved by health and safety regulations in Europe. But the views at the top were definitely worth it.
After having spent two nights in Quito, I left for the town of Mindo, some two hours to the North back across the Equator. Although only a one-street town, Mindo iss surrounded by dense cloud forest, home to over 800 species of birds, making it the most diverse place for birds in the world. Unbelievably, Ecuador has a greater number of plant and animal
species than the whole of North America combined - it really is a diverse country. The town is definitely a bird watcher’s paradise, but there is also a large range of butterfly species here, as well as more elusive animals such as the armadillo that I unsurprisingly didn’t see. The town was virtually empty when I arrived; as a result, I managed to get an ensuite room on the edge of the forest for $6 at the Bambu hostel. I only had time to spend one night in Mindo, but it’s such a tranquil place I could probably have spent a few days exploring the forest. 5km out of town, past several zip-line centres, there is a small cable car which takes you across a valley to “El Sanctuario” - a path linking 7 waterfalls in the middle of the cloud forest. It was very picturesque, but the only wildlife I managed to see was a black snake, which was on the dirt track but darted into the bushes before I could see it properly. Unfortunately it then started to absolutely pour down and I got rather wet during the 90 minute walk back to the hostel (I did have
my waterproof with me, but the rain was ridiculously heavy). The next morning I got up at dawn to go and see if I could spot some parrots or toucans in the nearby forest, but as it was still raining, there were hardly any birds to be seen; mostly just humming birds. The rain continued for most of the morning, so I didn’t really do too much before catching the bus back to Quito in the early afternoon. Shame about the weather, but the wet season is in full flow here, so not unexpected. And as I only had time for 2 days in Mindo, I can’t really complain.
Back in Quito at the same hostel, I met up again with José, and we went north of the city to the town of Otavalo, known for having one of the largest and best markets in South America. And it certainly did not disappoint. It was ridiculously big that I got lost several times; the market stalls lined virtually every road and side street in the centre. Luckily it seemed to be partitioned into a fruit and vegetable section, a clothes section, a home section, and a tourist section right in
the middle. I did buy a few things (haggling prices is an art I need to improve), but I didn´t get carried away. Most of the stalls were selling identical products, so finding genuine locally produced handicrafts was a bit of a challenge. After a whole morning in Otavalo, we went even further north to the city of Ibarra; the largest city in the region north of Quito, and like Popayan in Colombia, also known as the White City. Unfortunately, the city didn´t live up to it´s namesake in Columbia, as the centre was rather bland and completely deserted given that it was a Saturday afternoon. Its one redeeming feature is that it is known for its lovely fruit sorbets, and in the sorbet shop we went to, you could see them being made in the traditional way. As they were so nice and so cheap, we both managed to have 4. The following day, José had to leave Quito, as he has less time than me, so I was back on my own again. In the morning I went to the Quito cable car, which ascends over over 1000m above the city to just over 4000m above sea level.
Having been waiting in the bus that goes to the cable car for nearly an hour before it left, I was not in the best of spirits, especially as I wanted to get there early to avoid the queues. Instead, as it was nearly 10 before I got there, I had to queue up for quite some time, but the views at the top when I eventually got there were definitely worth it. Walking up from the cable car station to a view point on a nearby hill, I could certainly feel the difference in the altitude, with my breathing being a lot more heavy. After descending back to the city in the cable car, the next stop was an attraction called “Mitad del Mundo”, or the Middle of the Earth. This is about 20km to the north of Quito, and is a monument to where scientists first discovered where the Equator was, hence why Ecuador is named after the Equator. Unfortunately, according to my guide book, they built the monument 300m from the real equator, as the scientists made a small mistake. Nevertheless, the monument was still interesting and there were a few small musuems on site to visit.
I tried to find another museum outside the complex which lies on the actual Equator itself, but there were no signs and nobody seemed to know what it was. After the 45 minute bus journey back to Quito, I decided to treat myself for my last night in the city, and went to what is supposedly the best (and probably only) Indian restaurant in the country, located in the Mariscal, or New Town. The food was very good and cheap, though my only regret was choosing the quirky sounding vegetable and banana korma, as in hindsight I’m not convinced that’s a combination that works. The next morning it was time to leave Quito, heading south for the city of Latacunga.
Full photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/graemejbingham/EcuadorPart1QuitoAndAround
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