La Ciudad de Quito

February 8th, 2010 by Robert Eby

So today was my big Quito adventure. After a breakfast of toast and eggs and oatmeal at the hostel I was on my way to see Quito. Just me, my daypack, my Vibram Fivefingers, and my very limited knowledge of Spanish. Fortunately, there are many helpful people here and some of them even know a little English! I was ever so grateful that the person in charge of the tourist info center knew English. The map and information I gathered there was invaluable.

Quito is an interesting city with much history, very colorful but poor and dirty. The pollution from all the vehicles and especially the buses is disgusting. Maybe it´s neither poor nor dirty in perspective to other third world countries, but I have only seen great cities (excepting parts of Houston) in my short experience. Many people walk around, many drive small to mid-sized vehicles, there are a lot of motorcycles, but the best way to get around Quito is by bus. Taxis are common, but the bus is so cheap! Bus fare is only $0.30 whereas taxis can charge whatever they feel like (I found this out personally which I´ll explain shortly).

I successfully navigated the bus (without even being mugged or pickpocketed!) to and from La Mita del Mundo, or the middle of the world. I have stood on both sides of the Equator. Toiletts do not flush in opposite directions north or south of the Equator, you weigh a fraction of a percent less on the Equator, the sun is directly overhead only during the Equinoxes, and the days are of equal length only for a while after the Equinoxes. I have a lot of pictures, but am unable to post them at this time – due to technical difficulties. I also had my picture taken many times over, especially with my FiveFingers. I wish I had a card that told how to buy them because I think I could get a lucrative job as a salesman for Vibram. Lunch was vegetarian and Ecuadoreño and very good.

Afterwards, I took the bus to El Central, the historic part of Quito. I saw many cathederals, many statues, many street vendors, and actually, quite a few police. This last part is good because crime used to be bad in this part of town but the city has really cleaned it up (relatively speaking that is). I wanted to climb the great bell tower in La Basilica, but everything was starting to close down by the time I got there. After much, much, much walking, I returned to the hostel via the bus (actually the Trolle, which is notorious for pickpockets). But as I said, the only money I have lost so far is the ones I gave for goods and services.

In my room at the hostel are two Germans, an Israeli, and two Argentines. Although the Argentines know little English, and I little Spanish, we got to know each other and took a taxi to La Rotunda, a historic street. We had an apertif of a native drink that is juice served hot with alcohol. We also had an empañada. There were local musicians at the cafe we were in playing some great Ecuadorian music. I´ve actually met some really great people so far, and it´s my first day! Due to it being a monday, there was no desireable food for dinner in La Rotunda so we returned to the hostel, via taxi. Only we found this cab driver decided to charge three times more than what it cost to get out there. We got a little back from him, but it was a loss all the same. Always negotiate the cab fare before you get in!

¡Hasta luego!