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Published: June 25th 2017
After spending so many months on the sun drenched beaches of SE Asia, it was a welcome change of pace to arrive in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Despite its location on the equator, its elevation (2,850 meters / 9,350 ft above sea level) means it's quite a bit cooler than you might expect. Having to wear pants, sweaters and shoes was quite a novelty!
After an exhausting overnight flight (complete with middle-of-the-night layover in Panama), we got a taxi to old town and checked into our accommodation. All of the hotels we'd checked out were really expensive for family rooms, so we decided to book into a hostel. It was the first hostel we'd stayed in on the whole trip so we were a little nervous about fitting in with all the young, cool, single travelers! When we checked in, the friendly receptionist gave us the lowdown of the place, including showing us the events board. Tonight was salsa dancing and free shots night! We'd had only about 3 hours of sleep the night before, so we started to wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into. I had visions of trying to get the kids to sleep
with a raging party right outside our room! It turned out that we didn't need to worry as the party was elsewhere. Phew! We checked into our room, Catuna Dorm, which was a room with two double beds and a single bed with attached bathroom. For when it is being used as a true dorm, there were signs stating to "Stay in your own bed. No bed swapping." I'm assuming that doesn't apply to families with young kids!
That first evening we ventured out in search of food early on. We were so tired that we just couldn't wait for night time. We ate in a little restaurant just a few blocks from our hostel and got to really awaken the Spanish language brain cells for the first time. It was fun, and Scott and I were both patting ourselves on the back, surprised at how much was coming back after so many years. Seeing as Kyla and Jake barely ate anything, we called in at a minimart and got some Ritz crackers and yoghurt to eat back at the hostel to top it up. We then went into our room and waited patiently for it to
get dark enough to pull off bedtime. Luckily, being on the equator, it gets dark pretty early, and we were all crashed out in bed by 6:40pm. Even if there had been a raging party outside our room, I think we'd have slept right through it!
The next morning we awoke feeling refreshed after 13 hours of sleep and were happy to see a clear blue sky. We'd been watching the forecast before we came and it had been raining every single day, so this was a nice surprise. We headed down for the free breakfast and sat down at the big communal table with a family with a sixteen year old, and a few of those cool, young travelers I mentioned earlier. Everyone was really nice, and we were able to start gathering information about the Galápagos Islands.
After breakfast, it was time to go exploring. We didn't want to do too much today so just opted to explore some of the local plazas and churches. The kids had a ball chasing pigeons in the Plaza San Francisco, and then caught some live music in the Plaza Grande. We then headed to the
Cafe Plaza Grande for a special treat, "helado de paila." It's a traditional ice cream dessert served in a copper dish. The real reason we came was for the service though. It's served up by a purple robed "cucuracho" with a whole lot of hoopla. The lights in the restaurant start to flash and then the cucuracho brings the dessert to your table amidst a cloud of dry ice. The head chef comes from the region in Ecuador where this sweet treat originates, and he combines it with the age-old cucurucho tradition. These are sinners who wear purple cones and robes and walk through the streets during Holy Week, their feet chained, carrying heavy crosses, and sometimes wearing thorn crowns or carrying cactus crosses. I fully warned the kids what was about to happen but a part of me wanted it to be a complete surprise, just to see their reaction! I'm pretty sure there'd have been some tears though! Oh, and I know that the cucuracho looks alarmingly like a member of the KKK, but rest assured, these have been a part of Quito's history for hundreds of years, long before that group of racists came along.
Most cities in South America have some kind of religious statue on a hilltop, and Quito is no exception. That afternoon, we decided to visit the "Virgin of Quito" which is a massive statue sitting on top of a hill, dominating the view from old town. Our hostel warned us not to try walking to it because of the favelas (slums) surrounding it. It was safer to catch a cab, so that's what we did. As we drove up the road that circled El Panecillo hill, I couldn't help thinking that if this was a shanty town, the people here are doing ok. There was nothing that came even close to resembling the shanty towns in India or Africa! Once at the top we got fantastic views over the city all around us. Unfortunately the clouds had started to gather so the volcano views we'd been promised didn't exist. We climbed as far up the statue as we were allowed and used it as a good vantage point for looking for a kids' playground I'd read about. There wasn't any to be seen, so we caught a cab back down and instead decided to brave the shower. It was
so cold in our room that I was the only one to have bothered so far. Scott took a shower but the kids refused, saying the water was too cold. I guess we'll tackle this errand another day! That night we ate on La Ronda street, a completely restored picturesque cobblestone street lined with restaurants, chocolate shops, and souvenir shops. We ate at a cute pizzeria but the kids ate pretty much nothing other than bread and cake, warranting another trip to the minimart. Hopefully we can find some food they like here soon! ?
The next morning was again clear and sunny so we decided to visit one of Quito's top tourist attractions, the TeleferiQo. This is a cable car which climbs Volcan Pichincha to a height of 4,100 meters. The kids enjoyed the ride up and were not the least bit afraid. Once at the top we spent about an hour exploring around seeing the views on each side and stopped for a snack on a picnic bench with a fantastic setting. Feeling a bit queasy from altitude, we then hopped onto the cable car again and headed back down the mountain. That afternoon we
finally managed to get the kids showered by pouring warm water on them from a cup. Whatever works!
Next it was time for the nightly struggle of finding food to suit the kids. We headed out to La Ronda (the restored cobblestone street) again, but nothing stood out. There were so many restaurants but they all served the exact same food, namely some kind of meat with greasy fries, or pizza. Most western picky kids would live on pizza here, but not ours. They are the only kids on the planet who don't eat pizza, which makes life inconvenient at times. Finally we found a restaurant that had avocado salad on the menu. At least there was something for Kyla. We went in and we were the only ones there as it was 5:45pm Friday night, but you could tell they were getting ready for a party. The music was blaring out and disco lights were on, much to the delight of the kids. We had a nice meal in the end consisting of salad, lots of avocado, and breaded chicken (a nice change from hotdogs for Jake) served with rice and of course greasy fries. I
think we'll be coming back here!
That night there was a loud party starting at about 8pm, soon after we'd gone to bed. Luckily Jake was already asleep but Kyla wasn't, and stayed up far too late complaining that she couldn't sleep. I guess our decision to save money by staying in a hostel rather than a hotel backfired.
The next day was our last full day in Quito. No visit to Ecuador can be complete without a trip to the Mitad del Mundo, or the equator (directly translated as "middle of the earth.") I'd been here about 17 years ago and was surprised to see the changes. There used to be just the monument and a bunch of ticky-tacky souvenir stands. Now there is a whole "village" consisting of multiple restaurants (all serving the same food), shops, and other attractions such as a planetarium, chocolate factory, museum... It seemed much more authentic the way it used to be, but I think the new village was better for the kids as they had llamas to look at and two playgrounds (even if they were built on concrete!) They also had a lot of traditional
dance performances. It was all ridiculously touristy but we had a good day.
We have enjoyed Quito, but we are starting to get a bit city-weary. We are really looking forward to the next couple of months in the legendary Galápagos Islands. Roll on the flight tomorrow!
*** Yep, you know it, scroll right down for more photos! ***
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