We woke up pretty refreshed and grabbed breakfast - hotels in Ecuador typically include a breakfast chock full of fresh fruit and the usual fare. It was Sunday, and we had walking on our mind (and I had baños logistics planning for Beth - always top of mind for my tiny bladder syndrome travel partner). I had created a route on Strava that we could follow as a baseline, knowing the deviations would be the norm! Strava (my cycling tracking app) has proved to be a great tool for city walk planning as it has a heat map (ie an overlay map that shows the most frequented streets and routes where people have walked, rode etc).
Within 10 minutes of leaving the hotel, we started to see tons of people moving by bike. We had discovered (you know, kind of like how the Spaniards discovered South America), Ciclopaseo. Started n 2003 as a one off or infrequent celebration of moving in the city by bike, it was now every Sunday - a route 30km long right through the city is closed to traffic from 8am to 2pm for cyclists and pedestrians. Rather than the citizenry whining about reduced roads and more traffic (ahem... bike lane debaters), the city has embraced it (similar programs run in Rio and Bogota) - thousands of people were whizzing by us as we made our way through the nearby El Ejido Park, one of the MANY huge parks in Quito that were so well designed to be parks of the people. By that I mean, instead of the "open green space" approach, the parks (like the designs of the central squares in most cities we've been to in admittedly our limited exploration South America) were designed to have people interact and occupy instead of admire: prefab stalls for vendors, park exercise equipment, lots of sitting areas - this one even had 2 small glassed in libraries.
Some fun facts on Quito (officially San Francisco de Quito)... 2.8 million people (though it sprawls out from there for sure) and an elevation of 2,850 meters (the "*" highest capital of the world because La Paz at 3,640 is a split government seat/official capital with Sucre in Bolivia... sigh... anything to get a superlative in the world of travel!). The old city was one of the first UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites due to it's well preserved condition. The city is so long (over 70km) that the southern and northern part of the city actually have different designated climates!
Basilica del Voto Nacional kind of dominates the view if you're anywhere near central Quito, and although it's not a very old, historical building, it's pretty impressive. The basilica too about 100 years to complete (finished in 1988) and luckily for us modern day travellers, it was built with "access" in mind. If you wanted a better view, you could buy a ticket to climb the 6 or so storey "narrow-but-not-so-narrow-that-claustrophobes-freak-out" winding staircase to the mid tower section (they even thought to put a gift shop up there...lol).
The really cool views, though, were from the last climb up to the single tower that faces the two clock towers. Some people in my group didn't dare the climb (I don't blame her, it was a little sketch, as they say). I was joined at the top by a teenager from Virginia that was there with her Ecuadorian Uncle and I asked her if she thought they'd let the general public ascend and descend a ladder/stair like that by themselves in North America and she said "no chance!".... I was picturing safety reps, top and bottom, harnesses, training, waivers, safety glass, helmets, airbags, cushiony pillows....ah we suck sometimes....
The view of the city looking south from the top of the tower was spectacular! And.... I survived.... the teen actually slipped down and broke her ankle.
Not.
Coffee and baños in the cute square at the base of the basilica and we were off to the old city.
As we explored, I recalled that Uncle Brian had mentioned something about the dogs in Ecuador when we was there years ago... check! There are dogs everywhere. None of them were a problem - mostly they seemed nocturnal, just striving for some shut eye in the big city.
We meandered - Sunday proved to be amazing for people watching - our favourite travelling pastime. The Central Square was full of life - kids playing, vendors, small groups meeting, moms comparing notes... very few tick tockers, which was nice :-). There was some kind of security virtually everywhere - local, regional, national police officers in pairs and small groups, and even some military. Not in an ominous way, they were just... present. A lot of the more traditionally dressed people, mostly women, were well under 5 feet tall. Beth was feeling very confident.
As the morning stretched on and we ticked off more coffee and more baños, the area started coming alive with musicians playing. One trio we stopped and watched led to a cute old man engaging Beth is some dancing, to which she hilariously bowed at the end like she was back in Japan
We found a small alley for a lunch spot on a second floor balcony (finally, empanadas!) and then it was off to more exploring. Noise attracted us to a hip hop / break dancing group... it's always so interesting how a foreign culture is imported then merged with local culture to make their own brand and garner their own audience... very cool.
Made our way to central market but it was underwhelming... more like a smelly food court with very few vendors
We continued to people watch - the streets were a visual smorgasbord of people, street scenes and architecture... the legs were good but the visual stimulation was a lot!
Beth was losing steam so we caught an Uber (ridiculously cheap in Ecuador by the way.... $2usd for about a 25 minute ride) instead of continuing on foot - the altitude I'm sure was contributing to the lethargy, though we didn't feel as tired as when we'd first arrived in Arequipa with the kids in 2019.
The Uber dropped us at the bottom of the Tenifirico - a gondola that takes you up into the foothills of Ruca Pinchacha volcano... a trip that goes from 3120 meters to just under 4000 meters of elevation. It's the 2nd highest gondola in the entire American continent... another hilarious superlative.
On the way up, we spoke with a guy that was with his parents and wife/girlfriend. Halfway up he got the nerve to ask us where we were from in thickly accented English (dude... don't be shy - you should here our Spanish!). He was really nice (later inviting us to his house for dinner!) - an "IT Security tech who would love to work in Canada... but it's so hard to do it". A story that I'm sure plays out everywhere. The sad thing is, I'm sure we could use him! He finished the conversation with "English is the key!" - another hard reality. That always makes us feel awkward, as the superior/blessed/fortunate travellers from the "1st world". Sigh.
We had a nice coffee and snack while chilling out on a couch facing the Quito valley below. The temperature was amazing... shorts and a t-shirt for me, parkas for some of the locals... lol.
We took the lift down (about a 30 minutes wait - Sunday!) and Ubered back for some quiet time before dinner. We ate at a place in the old town that was suggested by one of Beth's colleagues for the view of the city called Vista Hermosa. The food was ok, but we weren't that hungry so didn't go for any of the bigger mains (I later spotted the steak and baked potato which looked fantastic) but the view from upstairs was pretty cool. What a great first, fun filled active day in Ecuador. Quito: impressed!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment