Quito in 2 days

Quito:

The Capital City of Ecuador. The first “city” in the world, which was declared a world heritage site. At nearly 3000ft, it is also the highest capital cities in the world.

The People:

Friday, Feb 27th 2010
Reaching Quito:

We landed in Aeropuerto Internacional Mariscal Sucre at 3:45 PM, from the Galapagos Islands  on a Friday. The landing was immensely beautiful. The city sits in a valley between towering Andean peaks. It’s very green and very scenic.

Where we Stayed:
Hostal Isla Isabela. Its minutes away from the airport and a convenient place to park, if you have only one night in Quito. In retrospect, I wish we stayed in some place in the heart of New Town ( La Mariscal) . It’s not too far from the airport and is where all the action is. On the upside, we got great breakfast!

Getting Around:

In general, getting around is very easy. The city is a long strip ( Like Bombay) and is more N-S ( 22 miles) than is E-W (3 miles). There are some arterial roads ( like Av. amazonas) that run across. There are trams , buses and cabs. The best way to get around : The cab. Gas is $1.5 per gallon. A ride all the way down to Old Town from the airport ( 10-12 miles) doesn’t cost more than $5.

Itinerary:

Most of the citys attractions are in 2 areas: Old Town and New Town.

We had a day and a half in Quito, and in my opinion we did even better than what Frommers recommended in that time.

Friday Evening:

-        Teleferiqo

-        Evening in La Mariscal ( New town)

Saturday Morning:

-        Tour of Old Town

Saturday Afternoon:

-        La Mariscal Artisan Market

-        Trip to El Mundo ( The Equator)

Saturday Evening:

-        La Mariscal again

Telerifiqo:

Getting there - It's best to just take a cab. It costs under $5. There are cable cars that transport you right up to the side of Volcan Pichincha (4050m). The climb of 1000m takes all of 8 minutes! It’s steep and exciting. 

At the top , there are magnificient views of the city and the surrounding snow-capped Andean peaks. We stayed on till past sunset to capture some of the most spectacular views we had of Quito, will the snow capped peaks, rolling clouds and city lights all in one shot.

We had a quick snack ( empanadas and Fritos) up there. There is an oxygen bar as well – for those who have difficulty at that altitude. It was a wonderful was to start our Quito experience. The city was already starting to feel special.

For getting back from teleferico, we had to wait for a shuttle that toom us downhill and then hail a cab. This wait was long, but fun.

La Mariscal:

La Mariscal is in new town. Just minutes down from Teliferico. This is where you will find a dense concentration of clubs, bars , restaurants, backpacker hotels etc. This is also commonly refered to “Gringolandia” , since it’s very popular with tourists. We went right known to “Plaza Foch”. The place was alive and bustling. All the yuppies were out having a good time there was a lot of light, music and life! We spent the rest of the evening ( till past midnight) at “Coffee Tree” – an open air lounge at the heart of Plaza Foch to soak in the spirit and sounds of Quito.

The food was fantastic. Asparagus crepes, aioli and vegetable sphagetti ( they sweetly tossed in a whole bunch of shredded veggies just for us) and a giant choclolate cake. It was hearty and satisfying.

Another interesting experience was below-the-line marketing for consumer goods like cigarettes and hair gel. We had super attractive women in costumes, handing out samples, that men were gladly accepting . It was fun to watch. It took me back to my FMCG days that I miss every once in a while. 

Saturday , Feb 28th 2010

Old Town( El Centro Historico)

Old town lies to the south of downtown Quito. This part of town is preserved in the Colonial area during which it came into existence. In fact, walking through the narrow streets, often takes you back to the 1500s. Here are Quitos classic churches, theaters, monastries and spectacular Plazas. It has survived , almost unchanged, over the centuries – Earning the city its unique distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage City. 

Iglesia de San Francisco:

It was the first church built in Quito. Archaeologists say, it was built by the Spanish over an Inca temple – the reason for the church being much higher than the other churches in its vicinity. 

The stairs were designed to be nice and wide , so that as you approach – you need to watch your feet to watch where you’re going – a way to force visitors to bow their heads in respect. 

It is an important Baroque church ( Domes and Arches). The ceilings have a beautiful Moorish design. In the entry way, there are images of the sun – a way to lure the indigenous people to the Christion religion. ( since the Sun was a very important Inca symbol). In fact, even the angels are in the shape of the Sun and have distinct Indegenous characteristics.

The Altar has 3 sculptures: The Baptism of Jesus, Almighty Jesus and the middle one – the most important sculptures in Ecuador – The Virgin of Quito.

This church closes at noon and doesn’t open until 3pm. You will often find women from Otovalo in the vicinity trying to sell textiles!

La Compania de Jesus:

This is in the block right next to Iglesias de San Francisco and right acoss from the Central Bank of Ecuador ( this reminded me of those beautiful colonial structures that the banks in Kolkata are housed in).

La Compania is one of the great Baroque masterpieces in South America. The carvings are super detailed.

One of the interesting features in it’s façade are the columns – symbolic of the doctrine that life’s journey starts below (earth) but climbs up to the top (heaven) by adopting the path of the church. Here again, there are distinctive “sun” symbols, which I just explained while covering Iglesias de San Francisco and the interiors were Moorish ( geometric patterns).

Casa Museo Maria Augusta Urrutia:

Well, this is just a house. To show how the Spanish lived. We spent 15 mins trying to find it and finally decided not to go in. There were better sights to spend time on. But with more time, it might have been an interesting visit

La Plaza De La Independencia

This was the main square of Quito in the 16th century. The Plaza is bustling and still is one of the most important spots in Quito. It is flanked by the Government Palace , the city Hall, the Arch Bishops Palace and the Cathedral on four sides. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

El Panecillo:

Our nest destination was to the hill ( that looks like a bread roll – Panecillo) that hosts a huge statue of the winged virgin. It’s around 150ft high and is the same one that’s on display on the main altar of Iglesias de San Francisco. It can be seen very clearly from anywhere in Old 

Town. 

The significance of this hill dates back to Inca Times. It was known as the “Shungoloma” then – (Hill of the heart). It was a place to worship the Sun. The Spanish constructed a fortress here in the 1800s to control what was going on down below ( it is pretty clear why they chose this spot, as it gives the most magnificient 360 degree view of the city)

Being right on the equator at noon, it was interesting for us to see no shadow being cast!

You can climb up the statue to soak in the view from even higher. There is a great coffee shop PIMS. It's a great place to grab a quick drink after a hectic morning! 

Other sights we quickly drove past:

There was a multitude of churches, museums and other monuments all along our walk. There was traffic in some parts, there were people sitting on the road playing music in others. 

Plaza de Santo Domingo, Plaza Del Teatro etc. are all place we zipped past in our drive either into or out of Old Town. We also saw a baby dressed as batman!

La Basilica Del Voto Nacional:

You cannot miss this. This towers over all the other structures in its vicinity and in Old Town. In fact, it is located right at the point when the city transition to "New Town". You can see it clearly in the El Panecillo panorama. This structure is modeled on Paris’s Notre-Dame. 

There is brilliant stained glass on the inside, and high columns. The Gothic impressions are all stark and well preserved.

It is famous for it’s mystical gargoyles in the form of local ecuadorian icons – Pumas, Monkeys, Penguins, Tortoises and condors that guard the church. 

Lunch at Govindas:

Isckon in South America. We found them in Peru, We found them in Argentina. And here they were in Quito as well.

Gallo, the cab guy:

We hailed a cab to get here and the cabbie was a guy called “Gallo”. We enjoyed him so much that we contracted him for the rest of the day. It was around 2:00 when he dropped us there and was to pick us up again at 4:00 to take us to the equator.

La Mariscal Artisan Market:

What can I say. The place is famous for its local handicrafts. If there is no time to fit in a 1-day trip to Otovalo, this is the next best thing. Their textile is unique and is a must-buy. I picked up some stoles, purses, handbags and T-shirts. Loved it. I picked most of my stuff from a stall manned by an enterprising 10 year old who spoke excellent English ( which clearly, was rare to come by here)

Journey to the Equator:

Gallo was back at 4:00 to quickly take us down the Pan-American higway north of town towards Otovalo. In about an hour, close to km 55 we saw Ciudad La Mitad del Mundo – A concrete Globe monument on top of a Yellow line, which allegedly was the equator – Latitude 0-0-0. I say “allegedly” and I say “was”, because the calculation made in 1736 was 600ft off! 

The actual equator is a little further down the road and to the left, in “Quitsato Mitad Del Mundo Monument”. Here there is a small science center and markings of the actual equator.

Some Nuggets of Info!

Dinner at La Mariscal 

We spent the evening in La Mariscal again. Trying out more new places and letting the fatigue set in. We saw an Indian restaurant and finally ate in “The Magic Bean” – which I do not recommend at all.  

We strolled around a bit, trying to mentally photograph as much as possible, knowing this was the end of our fabulous Ecuadorian vacation.