Middle Earth, crack heads and church bells
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
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29
41
Trip End
Jan 15, 2009
Quito,
Ecuador
Monday, June 9, 2008
We left Otavalo around 9:30am on a 4hr bus to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Upon arriving, we were both in awe of the size of the city with seemingly endless views of small, old houses. As we drew closer to the city centre we saw what is known as 'new town' with bundled high rises and modern buildings. The bus terminal is in old town which is where we wanted to stay. When we arrived, we had decided to catch a cab to town because we had picked a hotel from the lonely planet guide which sounded like a good starting point. When we asked a cab driver however, he refused saying that all the streets were closed to traffic because it's Sunday. We ended up making the walk - he was telling the truth, all the roads in town were closed for bikes. We found a hotel which gave us a nice suite for the same price as a simple double room because its low season
01
. Our suite, yes, suite! Had a lounge room with old antique looking furniture, a big bedroom with a comfy bed, wardrobe and cable TV and a nice bathroom with hot water, oh the luxuries of life!That afternoon we walked all around old town and found 'Basilica del Voto Nacional', an old gothic style church which had an entry fee of $2.00, money very well spent! We had a ball, surprisingly! The church has 3 main towers which you can reach the top of by ascending slippery steel ladders, spiral staircases and balancing over narrow, rickety wooden walkways. The views at the top are great as you can see almost the whole city surrounded by towering mountains. The views from the inside are spectacular because the church lights up from the sun beaming through the huge stained glass windows. But the best bit is that near the top of one of the towers there are 4 bells, YES- CHURCH BELLS which are just sitting there waiting and longing to be rung. How many people can say that they have rung church bells? Now we can!! YEEOOOW!!! We spent a great few hours at the church happy snapping and exploring without any guides, guards' or anyone that worked there except the ticket checkers at the entry to the church.
The lonely planet advises that Quito is a fairly dodgy town and come nightfall you shouldn't go anywhere unless you catch a taxi
02 Plaza del San Francisco
. Taking this advice, the first night we ate dinner and then returned to our suite just after dark. Our suite had windows all around it and we had, about a 180 degree view of the streets below. We watched as a drug dealer walked a 25 metre line back and forth whilst his customers, mostly homeless adults, street kids and taxi drivers came jetting towards him, on edge ready for their next fix. Every now and then there would be someone who wouldn't have the money; they would try to trade him a phone or magazine in desperation. When he ran out there were about four guys in an apartment across the road who would throw down another bag to him. We watched this from our perfect stake out position for a while. We felt so sad at the lives these poor people lead and the desperation they face for their next drug hit. Every now and then a cop would walk by but seemed to ignore the activities taking place. Sometimes a tourist usually completely unaware of the goings on around them would walk by as well.The next day we went to our favourite place, the Panaderia (or bake shop) got some goodies sat in a park/plaza in a patch of sun surrounded by massive beautiful European style buildings. We changed hotels, something cheaper, a little hidden gem not in the lonely planet (Hotel Arco De La Reina on Rocafuerte Street). Then caught a local bus for an hour to Mitad Del Mundo which means Centre or Middle of the Earth
03 Church Door
. As the name suggests it is literally the middle of the Earth- The Equator. No matter how touristy this place was, we had to go, to see the LINE and stand with one foot in each hemisphere or take a giant leap from the southern hemisphere to the northern. Katie and I stood a world apart and kissed on the middle of the earth line. We then headed to an independent (ROGUE) museum who passionately claim that the equatorial line we had just kissed on was indeed 240m out of wack and that the world map is actually incorrectly portrayed side ways. That's right people the Earth that you picture is WRONG!! They showed us the first map ¨the correct way up¨ with the Equatorial line drawn from top to bottom. MMM looked a little weird to us.We got back to town and visited New Town which was nice. Packed full of nice bars, cafes and shopping, we went to a books tore/ exchange and traded our Central America Book. Katie got some new books..... PHEW PEACE AT LAST. It had been a while since Katie had a book but I have plenty, which of course she has read already, that little speed reader that she is. Returning to Old Town we went to a restaurant that serves traditional Ecuadorian food, needless to say there were a few dishes that we are still unsure of what was inside... mm... DOG, RABBIT?? I got a drink called Punche which has Egg, milk and other stuff, served hot it tasted like a mix between custard and egg nog.... YUMO.
Ecuador has been the cheapest place that we have visited yet. Ecuador dumped their National currency in 2000 and now use the American dollar. This has worked out quite well for us because their dollar rises and falls with America. Ecuador was already cheap a few years back but now since the American dollar is struggling so much, we pay next to nothing whilst travelling here
04 Gothic church ('Basilica del Voto Nacional')
. We pay around AUS$2.00 for a nice set lunch of soup, a main, a drink and sometimes a little desert or bowl of chips (fried plantains). These are called "menu del dia" or "Almuerzo" and there are heaps of restaurants or cafes that have different set lunches - usually with the option of chicken or meat (steak) for the main, accompanied by a salad or two, rice and fried potatoes or something.Buses also cost nest to nothing. Our 4hr bus to Quito cost around AUS$2.00 each. Accommodation costs on average AUS$10.00 to AUS$15.00 per night for a double with a private bathroom. The people have mostly been great and we have noticed that there are a lot more tourists here in comparison to Colombia which we seemingly almost had to ourselves - or so it felt...
NEXT DAY we left for Baņos..... the adventure continues
Joe and Katie... Living it up in Ecuador!
