Quito (July 27-29, 2006)

We had originally intended on getting up early this morning and going to the hot springs before checking out and catching a bus to Quito, (it is recommended to go in the morning before 7am before the crowds set in), but in the morning we decided we didn’t feel like it. We had looked at the hot springs earlier and they did not look nearly as nice or as big as the hot springs in Santa Theresa, Peru (the ones we visited at the end of our Salkantay trek). We have been spoiled by the nicer hot springs in Peru (and in Canada), so we didn’t bother. A shame really, to go to Baños and not go to the baños!

At the bus station, we caught a direct bus to Quito that was leaving immediately (we really have had good luck with buses on our trip so far). The bus ride took a little over 6.5 hours and we arrived at Hostel Chicago around 2:30pm after sharing a taxi from the bus station with a girl from Denmark. We had hoped to stay at Secret Garden but it was full and they recommended Hostal Chicago. It was okay (rooms were clean, big and comfortable, use of a kitchen, great location) but lacks any kind of ambience or style. They have a rooftop patio with good views of the city though. During our stay (it was the weekend) there was often nobody in the office which meant no access to the advertised free internet as well as no service. When the staff could be found they were helpful. They served breakfast pretty late (8am) and we were usually on the go earlier than that so we missed out on the included breakfast almost every day.

We had some time to see the city so we walked around the Old Town for a while, visiting the Plaza de la Independencia and the area around it and stopping at the tourist information office to buy a really good map of the city for 50 cents. We ate dinner at Papayanet on the Plaza, which is a little café that also has good internet access (and a place we returned to a couple of times). We walked home after dinner and didn’t find the area unsafe as is mentioned in the guidebook. It still wasn’t very late though, so that might make a difference.

:: July 28:: 

Since we only had one full day in Quito, we woke up early and headed out around 7:30 for a whirlwind tour of the city. First we headed to San Francisco church but there was a service going on so we didn’t stay. Walked around the Old Town some more and then headed to then went to the Basilica, which turned out to be the unexpected highlight of our stay in Quito. Inside the basilica it is possible to climb to the top of one of the bell towers, and we mean right to the top! Even higher than the bells. It was a bit scary when the ladders kept getting steeper and there were no guard rails. The views of the city from up there were fantastic. After climbing the bell tower, there is a narrow wooden walkway that crosses to the other end of the basilica where you can climb to the top of another tower, which was equally as fun.

Back down at ground level, we walked to the New Town where we went to the Nautica office to pick up the tickets for our Galapagos flights and cruise as well as our flights to Caracas after the cruise. The Nautica lady was very nice and all our fears of booking everything over the internet (and wiring large sums of money to an unknown company) were alleviated. With the package for the tour physically in our hands, our excitement started to build. We went for lunch at a little café nearby where we perused all the information for our cruise. We had also intended on going to Mitad del Mundo (the monument at the equator) so we walked to Av. Americas to catch a bus, as was recommended by the Nautical lady as well as our guidebook, but no bus came. It had started to rain and was already around 3:30pm so we gave up and took a cab back to the hostel.

We made our own dinner in the kitchen, shared a carton of wine, played cards and went to bed. We found out later that we should have gone further up Av. Americas to catch the bus to Mitad del Mundo, we just hadn’t gone far enough. Pictures of us on the equator will just have to wait until our next visit to Ecuador!

:: July 29 - Otavalo Market ::

We left the hostel this morning at 7:30 to visit the Otavalo market, Ecuador’s biggest market and is in a small town two hours from Quito. The market goes on every day but is bigger on Saturdays, so today was a good day to go. We took the trolley to the bus terminal (we couldn’t find a cab), which was fun in itself. We then caught a bus to Otavalo that left at 8am, was full of locals, and drove through the beautiful countryside surrounding Quito. When we initially arrived, we headed towards what looked like the animal market. It wasn’t the large animal market that we had read about, but they were selling lots of chickens, pigs, dogs, etc. in this area. Next we headed to the artisan market, which is completely overwhelming. There are so many stalls with so many things to choose from. We quickly started making purchases and it didn’t take us very long to spend the $100 we had brought for buying souvenirs and gifts for people. Thank goodness we had only brought that much or we might have spent more!

We ate lunch at a local restaurant and Lincoln enjoyed the “menu” – a set meal that includes soup, a main course, a drink, and a dessert, for a mere $2. The main course was meat so I ordered something else, but it was equally as cheap with so much food I could barely eat half of it. Since we were out of money and it was raining again (apparently it never rains at this time of year, but it sure rained for us every day we were in Quito!), we took bus back to Quito and again took the trolley back to hostel. We went to Papayanet again for dinner & Internet (there were no other Internet places that we could find in the area other than our hostel, which we never had access to because it was in the locked office). After dinner we caught a cab back to the hostel and packed for Galapagos. Wahoo!