Our landing in Quito was like an action movie… sort of. We were in clouds thicker than molasses and in an instant we came out of them, barely clearing city buildings at a blistering speed in our 767. At first we thought it wasn’t right but sure enough the Boeing cleared the last of the shanties and landed on the runway and threw its engines into full reverse to bring us to a stop before we ran into the shanties at the other end of the runway. We breezed through customs (in fact I don’t think the customs agent asked us anything other than if this was our first time to Ecuador) and we met our taxi who had a sign that read ‘Courtacey Felton’. Close enough I guess! We hoped in and were immediately amazed at the lack of traffic rules. First off, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way; secondly, speed limits and traffic signage are only suggestions. Motorists rip through city streets narrowly missing each other and the bigger you are the more authority you have on the road. Oddly enough, we haven’t noticed any vehicles with dents or scratches. Police ride doubles on dirt bikes and when an ambulance has its sirens blaring you’re lucky if you can get behind it to help speed you through the city.
After arriving in Miami airport we walked to the LAN desk which was closed because we were too early to check in. We then walked outside to the beautiful and warm Miami air. It was so amazing feeling the warm sunny air on our pale white faces. We both were so excited and happy that we were finally on our way to Quito! We also agreed that we both love warm weather in January. Our landing in Quito was like an action movie… sort of. We were in clouds thicker than molasses and in an instant we came out of them, barely clearing city buildings at a blistering speed in our 767. At first we thought it wasn’t right but sure enough the Boeing cleared the last of the shanties and landed on the runway and threw its engines into full reverse to bring us to a stop before we ran into the shanties at the other end of the runway. We breezed through customs (in fact I don’t think the customs agent asked us anything other than if this was our first time to Ecuador) and we met our taxi who had a sign that read ‘Courtacey Felton’. Close enough I guess! We hoped in and were immediately amazed at the lack of traffic rules. First off, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way; secondly, speed limits and traffic signage are only suggestions. Motorists rip through city streets narrowly missing each other and the bigger you are the more authority you have on the road. Oddly enough, we haven’t noticed any vehicles with dents or scratches. Police ride doubles on dirt bikes and when an ambulance has its sirens blaring you’re lucky if you can get behind it to help speed you through the city. Anyway, our hostel, the L’Auberge Inn, is beautiful and clean. Our room is quite large and we have a private bathroom, but there is no heat, just heavy blankets. The hostel also has a kitchen, a travel agency, free wi-fi (hence why we are blogging right now), a restaurant and most importantly a bar ($1.60 for a pint). The atmosphere is warm and welcoming and we would recommend this place to anyone travelling to Quito, old or young, fussy or careless. Our first day walking around Quito was great! When we were preparing to leave our hostel we were a little scared at what we might encounter. We strolled around the part of Quito known as the old town. It’s an area filled with churches, covenants, chapels and monasteries that was built centuries ago. It was also filled with people! We were trying to figure out who was at work? We had lunch at a place called Montserrat and had help from a family from Ibarra who asked us to come and visit them! Our second day in Quito we strolled throughout a beautiful park with clean walking and bike paths, lots of newly trimmed and raked grass areas, and playgrounds for children. There were lots of people out and about enjoying the nice weather and sunshine. We then continued into another part of Quito called La Mariscal (New Town) which was very different than the area we were in the day before. New town has lots of tourist stores, café’s, classy restaurants, bars, and lots of other tourists (Gringos). The main street Av Amazonas is lined with travel agencies advertising trips to the Galapagos, and the Amazon. We ate at a nice Greek restaurant and had Gyro’s which were yummy! We then headed back to the hostel where we met a Spanish teacher and had a 1 hr long Spanish lesson. It was really helpful but we’ll definitely need lots of practice. We are thinking of taking lessons again more consistently for 1-2 weeks so we’re more comfortable speaking to the locals. Our third day in Quito we met another Canadian couple from Calgary at our hostel and decided to venture out together to the equator on the local bus. We walked to a bus station and asked how to get to Mitad Del Mundo (the town at the equator), they said to get on the next bus and stay on it until the main station, then transfer to a second bus that will take us to the actual town. The bus was a like being on a rollercoaster, it was so long that when it went over bump or hills you would get tickle tummy. It was really fun and a great way to see the city, bonus it only cost $0.40 each to get there and $2.00 to get into the complex. Mitad Del Mundo is set in a beautiful valley surrounded by large grass covered hills. It was neat being at the equator and fun taking silly pictures over the line marking the two hemispheres. Around the Globe monument that marks the equator are little shops and restaurants where we ate a fried pollo lunch. I (Cou) had a tasty pineapple banana naturale, which is a freshly squeezed fruit drink, it was so good! After we toured around for a bit, we took a different bus back into town. The bus climbed high along the edges of city so that we overlooked it. The sprawl of houses up the mountains surrounding the city was incredible. It was like someone decided to build in an area and then everyone else followed, except they all built on top of each other. In the evening we had dinner with a nice lady from Winnipeg who just bought a condo in Otavalo (2 hours north of Quito by bus). She was up here finalizing the purchase of her condo and buying some furniture from the local wood-workers. It’s been a blast so far. Today we’re off to Otavalo…
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