Our tour of Quito began early the next day. I had arranged for a private tour, which was nice as we were able to take things at our own pace. We went all over the city, but spent the majority of our time in the historical center of the city, where there are a number of Spanish colonial churches and other buildings of importance. We were also taken to a couple of lookout points to enjoy views of the city. Quito is high in the Andes mountains, and is built in a valley that's four miles wide and 32 miles long, so views of the city are pretty dramatic.
Basilica del Voto Nacional (our guide said the inside wasn't that great, so we didn't go inside or even all the way around this one. Impressive architecture, though):
Views of Quito:
La Iglesia de San Francisco (we arrived during mass, so I couldn't get the best angles or take a lot of photos due to the clicking sound of my camera):
The square and streets in the area:
La Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus (impressive, but also ridiculous at the same time. I've never seen so much gold or ostentatious decoration in a church. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside this one. If you look around the internet, however, I'm sure you can find some):
Ceremonial guards at the presidential palace:
Plaza de la Independencia (a favorite hangout/meeting place for locals):
More views of Quito (this was a great location):
We also had a nice lunch at a fairly upscale restaurant. I don't remember too many details now, other than the fact that the restaurant was just off the plaza and that it was our first chance to sample locro, the traditional potato soup that Ecuadorians love. And, wouldn't you know it, we loved it too.
Our second day in Quito consisted of visits to a number of locations in and around the city. Our first stop was the teleferico (cable car). This was probably my favorite thing that we did in Quito. The car takes you up to the top of Pichincha volcano, which overlooks the city. The views from up there are excellent. Getting around was a little tough due to our lack of acclimation to the altitude, but that's OK--all the huffing and puffing were totally worth it.
Our next stop was Rumicucho, an old Incan fortress that was built in the late 1400's, toward the end of the Incan empire. I liked what I saw, but was disappointed at the same time. I had been expecting to see more than just a few walls and foundations (I think I had Machu Picchu on the brain). If nothing else, the views from Rumicucho were pretty cool.
Our next stop was the Pululahua cloud preserve. Pululahua is a dormant volcano, and there's a small village in the caldera of the volcano. Clouds coming in from the coast travel down into the volcano and then back out again, often at great speeds. It's pretty fascinating to watch. Check out the video to see the action.
We also ate at a restaurant that overlooked the preserve--talk about a cool, unique view for a restaurant to have. Once again, I had locro (potato soup), while Becca decided to try caldo de patas, or cow feet soup. She didn't like it, and neither did I--nasty flavor, and I didn't even bother to dig into the tendons and gristle in the bowl. Our guide and driver naturally found this very entertaining. The front of the restaurant also had a cool view of the valley on the other side.
Our final stop of the tour was La Mitad del Mundo, or center of the world. This is a monument built to mark the equator. Interestingly, it was discovered with the advent of GPS that the monument is not actually on the equator, but rather many meters off (like 22 or something--I forget now). Anyway, this was the ultimate tourist trap, full of cheesy shops and crappy rides for the kiddies, but at least the top of the monument offered good views of the area. There was a museum inside the monument that had information about the various cultures found in Ecuador, and that was kind of interesting as well. Ecuador, like many other countries in Latin America, has indigenous peoples, mestizos (Spanish/native American mixed), and African cultures (descended from slaves).
Notice the clouds coming over the mountain from Pululahua:
Our third day in Quito was probably my favorite. We spent most of the day at Cotopaxi National Park. Cotopaxi is the second tallest volcano in Ecuador, and as such, has its own weather systems and a peak that is typically covered with snow. The weather didn't cooperate much of the day, but we did see the peak from afar and did see some of the snow at low levels while we were in the park. We also saw some other cool stuff: condors in flight (a rarity, since they're endangered), a snow storm on the nearby Ruminahui volcano, birds on a lagoon, etc.
Cotopaxi from afar:
Views from the Panamerican highway, which we took from Quito to Cotopaxi:
The only llama we saw during our trip:
Once we got in the park, we did some light hiking in a couple different places, then had lunch at a hotel in the park (in the middle of nowhere--kind of weird). Once again, we had potato soup, along with the rarest steak we've ever eaten (we finally had them cook it some more) and a few other items.
Closeup of the snows of Cotopaxi:
You can barely see him, but here's one of the condors we saw:
That was it for our time in Quito. We had a really good time and would recommend going there if you're ever in the neighborhood. 2-3 days is plenty to see the best of what Quito has to offer. Oh, and by the way--if you go, remember to pack shoes. I didn't, and that could have been a major problem. Fortunately, our hotel was by a nice shopping mall, so I was able to get some Nikes quickly, but not cheaply. Ecuador is not cheap, though. The official currency is the US dollar, and as such, things are often priced like the US.
Next up: Galapagos Islands
Nice images of the cloud preserve and Cotopaxi especially!
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