Quito Hotels
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Saying goodbye in Quito
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On the afternoon of Sunday 18 December, we returned again to Casa Helbling in Quito after our four-day stay in the jungle. Time to pack and prepare for goodbyes! The boys went down to the supermarket and bought some stuff for another barbeque at the hotel. They settled for fillet steak... sounds extravagant, but all the other beef we'd tried so far in South America had been very though, but this time we were not disappointed. Finally, the quest for a tender steak on the continent of beef had come to an end. After dinner, we sat down together with cards and wine for one last time.
On Monday morning, after Pete and Jen had finished their packing, we headed down to the Old Town of Quito for a bit of sightseeing... though we had spent quite a bit of time in Quito, it was always in transit to/from Galapagos or the jungle, so we hadn't actually had time to explore the historic centre of the capital.
We took the very efficient but overcrowded Ecovia from Mariscal into the centre, and wandered along to the Plaza de la Independencia, and from there to the San Francisco church on pretty plaza of the same name. The church was built in 1553 and is dedicated to the patron saint of the city; the interior, especially the altar is breathtakingly beautiful to such a degree that it brought tears to Jen´s eyes! From Plaza San Francisco, we continued on to the church of Santo Domingo (by now you can spot the theme here...), which has an equally impressive interior, especially the richly decorated Chapel of the Rosary.
From there we took a short walk in search of Calle Morales, apparently the oldest street in the city. However, it looked really dodgy so we didn´t bother walking down it! The final stop on our churches circuit (by now the boys were threatening to strike) was the Jesuit church of La Compañia, which had been recently restored, so we had to pay an entrance fee of $2. Really elaborate interior - gilded from wall to wall.
In the early afternoon we returned to the Mariscal district and sought out an eating place that had been recommended to us - Ceviches de la Rumiñahui. We had no idea what ceviche was, apart from the fact that it involved seafood, so sat down and watched bowls of what looked like yummy bouillabaise appear on tables, then ordered our own. Alas, ceviche is a cold dish! In fact, it´s fish or seafood marinated in lemony sauce, not cooked at all. We loved it nevertheless... very refreshing, would be the right thing to eat on a stinking hot day by the coast.
After lunch, Pete, Rich and I went along to a camping and outdoor store we´d spotted earlier, and I finally bought some new boots - decent waterproof Merrells. Hurray! We returned to the hotel after a little more shopping, cracked our last beers together and said goodbye at about 6.30pm. Sniff, sniff! It had been a wonderful three weeks with the parents, and now we were on our own again!
We spent another night at Casa Helbling and planned our onward journey - we decided to leave for Riobamba the following morning, and reserved a nice hotel in Riobamba for two nights on the 24th and 25th... we felt better once we knew where we´d be for Christmas!
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