Flavour of Quito

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First day on the trip after a long, long flight from Australia (32 hours!). Catherine and I slept off the jet lag, meeting Bill and Wendell before breakfast. We have a pleasant hotel well situated near the touristic centre of the town. After our first cup of Ecuadorian coffee we headed off on foot to see several spectacular cathedrals, and a museum of pre-columbian art. Really quite freaky, with one memorable piece consisting of a plate supported by two legs. Here’s the thing though, the plate resembled a pig squashed flat and the legs were like the legs of a centurion. The weirder end of Art deco, but dating back to well BC. Lunch was in a very pleasant courtyard restaurant where we sampled ceviche for the first time. Brilliant.

In the evening we sauntered down to a restaurant district between two bridges. The little restaurants and cantinas didn’t really fire up until about 9pm, and then everyone had a band or at least a singer. Musica en vivo! Bill sampled the local specialty – roasted cuy (guinea pig). I thought it was not much different from rabbit, but memories of dried rat in Lao, limited my appetite for rodentia. I stuck to the chicken which had been spiced and barbequed over an open fire.

We had spent the evening looking to try some Inca Pisco, but alas this seems to be a low priority for Quitoans. We settled for a local fruit punch called Canelazo. This is warm, spiced juice of the naranjilla (a tropical orange-like fruit) together with cinnamon and of course some ubiquitous spirit: in this case rum.

Reasonably rough night because there was a party in one of the nearby rooms. Checked out of our hotel and then tried to finalise the transfer north. My mobile phone could not connect so we were unsure of all the details. After discussions with the receptionist and next hotelier, it turns out there had been some screw up in the booking. The receptionist was very helpful and arranged for someone to come with a minibus. While Wendell and I were outside with our gear, a group of men tried to scam us. The oldest guy fell off the curb and spralled over the road – eye glasses askew, clutching his leg as in pain. Younger men were around us. One either side of Wendell’s and my bags. As the old guy was writhing on the road, Wendell moved to help him. I told her to “get back and watch” and somehow magically the two younger guys flanking us melted away. The old guy’s limp had magically improved by the time they got around the corner and out of our sight.

The minibus came without a hassle, and we headed north. Out of Quito the terrain quickly drops down. Nice highways though the lack of lane markings makes for exciting lane changes. We drove past the site of the new international airport which will get international planes well and truly out of the city. Continued through hungry, dusty landscapes and winding roads. It started to become more fertile as we approached Otavalo, which is a pretty, touristic town beside a lake. There is a large indigenous community here, and given that it was Sunday we got to see some of their traditional dress. We passed through the town and further north to the Peguche turn-off. This led to a small collection of building which is the Hostal Aya Huma.

26^th July Back to Quito after the amazing Galapagos Is. trip. To the Hilton; of course. Several hours in the room to repack, wash, and upload blog entries. Generally good news about Graham. Hilton Concierge would not recommend any place in Old Town to eat. We made our way to dinner at Vista Hermosa which we though was “Mister Mosa”. Really nice view of the hills of Quito all lit up. The food was fine. The décor was interesting with photographs from Quito’s history. Taxi back picking up my extra bag on the way.

27^th July Late start after an excellent sleep, with the help of anti-altitude sickness drugs. Checked out and headed out for some sightseeing. Found our way to the Independence Square in front of the Presidential Palace. Many people gathered and plenty of activity. It was a live in demonstration by a group of Ecuadorian soldiers who felt they had not been rewarded for jungle campaigns of the 90s. Blowing whistles and shouting at the President from the square. Visited the Monastario de San Francisco. We had a good, young guide who showed us the art as well as the religious icons. The ceiling was interesting, with deeply recessed in-layed woods. Plenty of gold of course. I never ceases to amaze me just how many resources were committed to religious celebration and devotion in churches world-wide. Some of the cathedral’s space was committed to commemoration of war heroes and achievements. An interesting mix. One of the stories of the cathedral related to an hubristic, wealthy local who would abuse the church and his fellow citizens almost daily. One night when he was drunk, the rooster icon from the top of the cathedral came to life, and flew down from the top of the cathedral, pecked him, and forced him to make amends. We had a nice lunch for $16 for four people in the museum cafeteria.

We were looking for the wax museum mentioned in Lonely Planet. Had real trouble finding the street number. Eventually found out that the museum had been closed recently and permanently. We walked into the cultural centre and discovered a brilliant photographic exhibition. Covered many aspects of Ecuadorian life and culture – both beautiful and ugly. Spectacular photographs of events where villagers still commemorate past hatred through public brawling. Frequently people die. There was a high definition panoramic photograph of Quito and I finally felt as though I was orienting myself. Outside we picked up a cab and headed up to see “aluminium Mary”, La Virgin de Quito. Surprisingly high. Fine view. Young families were flying kites off the top of the mountain. Dads doing the work of flying; young boys dancing with excitement. There was a huge cypress pine that had been pruned to the end of its life. Back to the Hilton, we picked up our gear and headed to the airport. Bill swapping linguistic insights about Spanish, Quechua and Aymara with the taxi driver. Slow through check-in and onto the plane 20 mins late.

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Comments

[Dad]

Arrived
What!, no Rodento Bake?. Be interesting how the Locals themselves live?.....In-house ect.

[LA]

Hola!
So looking forward to following your travels. Am thinking it will save me a whole lot of research and planning for our trip! Just forward your itinerary through when your done. Have a blast. LA xx