A good home base-Quito, Ecuador

I landed in Quito late at night and was tired from having been on east coast time since I traveled directly from New York City.  The taxi ride in was long and I could barely keep my eyes open.  They have built a new airport outside the city and ingeniously re-purposed the old using it as a park.  I strained to keep my eyes open and observe the city.  The road was very well built as it wound down from on high to the edge of old town and my shelter for the next two nights.  We pulled up, I spoke to the night guard and he showed me to my private room with a shared bath.  I had chosen to splurge on the first two days because I knew I would arrive late and need a good nights sleep.  The room had wood floors and a comfy double bed.  There was even a tiny window above my bed that looked out upon the city.  I slept well that night and the next.

The next morning I climbed the stairs to the rooftop of the hostel and ordered breakfast.  The view was amazing from this location.  I could literally see all of Quito including the Virgin Mary statue, teleferico, many churches and plazas.  The breakfast was simple; yogurt, homemade roll, fruit and granola.  Immediately I started chatting with other travelers.  I met a total of ten teachers on this trip and the first person I met in Quito just happened to be one.  He was traveling from Quebec with his family; wife and three kids.  His family was still tired from the plane ride.  He told me they had walked Quito the day before with the guide and then without.  He said the unguided tour was better because you could take your time.  After his family arose I met Amy, a future doctor who had been studying/practicing medicine in Ecuador and was now on her own to travel before returning to the states.  We decided to go on the walking tour together and since we both liked learning a bit about a place choose the guided tour first.  Gabby would be our guide and three others joined us, Steve and Nikki, a couple from Australia traveling all of South America and Nick another American traveling solo.

Gabby was well educated on the history of the sites of Quito and guided us giving us caution about our bags and cameras.  She would tell us when it was safe to have them out and when it was not. The one location where she had us go inside was the Benalcazar House which signifies the beginning of old town.  They display Ecuadorian artwork as well but the most interesting part of this house was the entrance.  There are bones inlaid to ward off evil, some human bones and some animal.

 Gabby guided us through the two main plazas and then left us at the convent and told us of the tunnels which ran underneath.  Within these tunnels were the stages of Ecuadorian history and artwork from each stage which had been replicated for sale.  There were some very unusual pieces of a sexual nature, surprising for being sold in a convent.   There were a few places Gabby had pointed out that we all wanted to revisit later and after she left us that is just what we did.

First we all needed food.  Gabby had told us about her favorite juice bar which also served delicious empanadas.  Just as she promised it was delicious.  After we were nourished we made a plan. We wanted to go to the Virgin Mary statue but it was unsafe to walk the path up there as muggings were common.  We shared a cab, all five of us jamming into one.  That made the ride cheap.  The cab wound its way up the hill and to the park where Mary's wings were outstretched and her eyes overlooked the city.  This is the only Mary with wings we were told.  She is made of metal square panels and you can climb inside to the viewing platform.  The views of the city were well worth it.  There were also vendors lining the park with their wares in these very nicely made stalls.

A man began to talk with me when we had walked over to the park portion.  He happened to be a tour guided and explained his English was so good because he had a English girlfriend in the past.  He hit on me with the line, "You know the best way to learn a language is to take a lover who speaks it." It still makes me chuckle.  This guy had nothing appealing about him whatsoever.  He was short, round and not handsome.  I told him I knew Italian better than Spanish to get rid of him and luckily or unluckily an Italian man came to my rescue upon hearing that.  I felt bad because I haven't been practicing my Italian since I was traveling to a Spanish speaking country so I couldn't really communicate but at least he saved me from the creeper and graciously snapped photos of the group.

We took the bus back down the hill, much more economical at .50 cents but it dropped us off in the wrong part of town up on the hills in the west.  We then had to make our way down and back up to the churches we wished to visit, no small task in Quito the second highest capital.  You have to walk slowly and I couldn't even imagine trying to exercise aggressively at this elevation.

The gold church, Inglesia de La Compania de Jesus, was our next stop.  The gold church is nicknamed such because the inside is completely covered in gold.  The problem with a gold church is that people who are poor would like some gold so in the past they would scrape little flakes off in order to sell.  The church is very well protected now.  As you visit you can see the places where people took a little gold home.  The gold was excessive and not attractive at all.  I really don't understand the appeal of it.  Just because it is shiny doesn't make it valuable, at least not to my eyes.  Besides so many poor people could be taken care of with the amount of gold in this church.
It was over the top and showed the history of Spanish conquest in graphic form. In other words, "we don't care about these people who live here but we would like to take all of their gold and use it to build a church that is on the way to one of their worship sites just to influence them to be like us. Oh and if they don't agree we will just kill them."

Next was the cathedral which was only recently finished and though is made to resemble Notre Dame is made of modern materials such as concrete.  Instead of gargoyles, this cathedral has all the significant animals of Ecuador such as armadillos, tortoises and iguanas. It is called the Basilica del Voto Nacional.  There are three towers that can be climbed and so we did but the best part was a restaurant bar tucked into one of the towers where we ordered beer and wine, yes in a church. Cheers to a great first day in Quito!!!