A young English teacher found us wandering the streets of Quito this morning. He was properly dressed – in suit and tie while bopping to tunes with his large earphones. He saw us struggling with a paper map and stopped to give us a hand. Eventually we found our way to a travel agency – made arrangements for the “avenue of volcanoes” tour – the spine of the country south of Quito which boasts some of the tallest volcanoes on the planet including the tallest one in the country, Chimborazo at 6,268 meters.
We stopped in for lunch at Achiote – a traditional Ecuadorian restaurant. We stumbled into this restaurant upon a recommendation and were surprised to find it right next door to our hostal after wandering apparently in a circle for the past hour! Great ceviche (raw fish marinated in limon), Chicha drink (sweet and sour beverage often made from corn or maize) and a fresh fruit salad – deliciousness that only the tropics can deliver.
The old town and the Gran Plaza was a bustle of activity this morning. Thousands of people walking the streets enjoying a relaxing Saturday. We headed up to El Panecillo for great views of most of the city. It sprawls over valleys and hills – with tall mountains on one side. Here is a short video taken from this hill:
Now a rainstorm is crashing down all around us – and I am sitting here in a cozy warm room debating the question: food or comfort? Tough call. Ok – heading out to find some more Ceviche – will brave the downpour!
Quito is one of the more visited cities in South America – by backpackers…that and Buenos Aires 🙂 I was in Quito about a year ago and really enjoyed my stay there – but it took me a few days to recover from the high altitude. I had a headache and some nausea the first two days 🙁
I was just there! I didn’t spend that much time in Quito, mostly the Galapagos. Anyways, I liked Chicha but found it a bit acidic. Ceviche was DELICIOUS but it made me nauseous for some reason – I think because I would do strenuous activity in the Galapagos, get sort of dehydrated, and then perhaps the ceviche had a high salt content that made everything worse. Have you tried cuy, the guinea pig??
Hi Charlotte – Galapagos – def wanted to visit but ran out of time this trip 🙁
Did you go independently or did you use an agency to plan that part of your trip? Looks like you had some awesome mud covered adventures there!
Interesting to hear about the Chicha – we had all different types and colors of this drink. I’ve had Cuy a number of times – in Peru and also this trip. We found it more expensive in Ecuador compared to Peru. It is tasty but not a lot to eat on each Cuy.
I look forward to reading about more of your adventures!
I used an Ecuadorian travel agency that specializes in ecotourism. They are dedicated to having money stay in local communities, and having tourists give back through volunteer work. My 3 weeks was therefore all planned out, and it was a great program. It’s called Lead Adventures and they were quite good:
However, for those more into independent travel, many people I volunteered with went through UBelong, a nonprofit organization that pairs people with volunteer opportunities abroad. Unfortunately Jatun Sacha, the Ecuadorian organization that provided the volunteering opportunity, doesn’t seem to like people coming directly. UBelong is supposed to be the “cheapest middleman.” Volunteers can then do whatever they like during their free time.
I didn’t realize there were different colors of Chicha…I only had one type. Will have to go back sometime 🙂
I loved Quito! Have you been to Mindo? That’s an awesome place to visit that’s close by but a world away in terms of your surroundings. Just take mossie repellent!
Arianwen – I wish I had known about Mindo during our time in Quito! Just saw some photos – the cloudforest looks nice! We stayed in the mountains the entire time both south and north of Quito. The diversity of climates in Peru and Ecuador always amazes me – can be in the hot jungle one day and then next, cold and high up in the mountains.