Taking on the Bucket List - Quito Ecuador

Panoramic shot of Old Town from the Basilica


The bucket list.  

Always lurking there in the back of your mind, with a “someday” attached to it.  
Now my bucket list does not include any airplane (or even bungie) jumps but it does have places in the world that I would like to see. 

Someday ...

Well this year an amazing bucket list item happened for me.  I (along with a friend) took a trip to the Galapagos.  In my mind the Galapagos and Africa are the two stand out animal destinations in the world.  Africa for mammals (and more) and Galapagos for reptiles and birds.

To get there one must first get to Ecuador.  In our case we went via Miami and from Miami I traveled on to Quito.  (My friend opted for Guayaquil).  Quito is the capital of Ecuador and has the distinction of being the second highest capital in the world at 9350 ft above sea level (assuming you count La Paz as Bolivia’s capital – if you go with Sucre then Quito is the highest).  Quito’s Old Town is a UNESCO heritage site and has churches and colonial buildings that link up with that designation.  In fact it was the first city to be declared a UNESCO site way back in 1978 – 40 years ago.

It was founded back in the 16th century on the ruins of a major Incan city.  The ruins were a result of it being razed rather than letting it fall to the Spanish.  (The Spanish arrived in Ecuador in 1526, and Quito was founded in 1534).  The city’s name comes from the early inhabitants of the area – the Quitu people.

The Basilica


The easiest place to start (for me) was the Basilica which was enroute between my hotel and the Old Town.  This is a newish church (building started in 1926) and looks pretty classically basilica-ish until you take a close look.  Where many churches have gargoyles the Basilica del Voto Nacional has turtles and iguanas protruding form he sides of the church.  

Iguanas not Gargoyles


A very shaky way to the highest tower




A cool thing here is that you can climb the tower and look our over the old town.  Given that it is located on a bit of a hill the view is quite amazing.  But getting to where you can see is a bit of a journey.  Besides all the stairs there is rickety feeling set of wooden planks inside the roof itself that you cross to get to some even steeper stairs – almost ladders.













Band + Clowns


From the Basilica one wanders down the streets and will come to the main square known as Plaza Grande.  It was a Friday and I was greeted in Plaza Grande by a military band and dancing clowns.




No idea what this was about, but it was very pleasant.  On the Plaza is the cathedral which I visited but was asked not to take photos.  In this there is a painting of the Last Supper which includes traditional food such as roast guinea pig.  There is also another painting of a nativity scene which includes a Llama. 



I also went to  third church called the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus a stunning example of Baroque design with Moorish elements (again asked not to take photos inside – but did take one of the domes).  It is truly wonderful and is gilded inside creating the feeling of being inside a jewel box.  This is a really old one being started in 1605 and completed 160 years later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compa%C3%B1%C3%ADa_de_Jes%C3%BAs,_Quito



Beyond churches I also visited a couple of museums including Casa del Alabado which is a private museum, beautifully done and containing an impressive collection of pre-Columbian artifacts.  The condition of the artifacts is amazing and I asked how this could be so, and was advised that many (most?) of these had been in tombs and therefor protected.  I did not see any information about how they came to be in the hands of the museum, but they were certainly a treat to look at.



Pre-Columbian Artifacts
Probably not a bird bath











So of course the altitude is high, and I was just there for the day, so I was dragging a bit.  Found a guy selling coca tea, candies and leaves which is supposed to help – but by that time it was lunch and a good rest and some food ultimately did the trick (OK and a couple hard candies too).  I found a restaurant with a traditional section on the menu (it is a tourist area after all) and dug into Llapingacho -don’t ask me to say it.  This turned out to be a massive plate of food, of which I could only eat about a third, but all very tasty.

Way more than I could eat


Heading back to the hotel was far easier as I took a taxi.  Took me an hour to walk from my hotel to the Old Town, but only about 20 minutes to return – and only USD 4.00 fare.  I certainly could not get a 20 minute ride in a taxi for USD 4.00 in Canada.  I am quite puzzled as to how they could do this – wages are lower – but gas and maintenance can’t be that much different…..

So in all the visit to Quito was interesting, but I was eager to move on to the next part of the adventure.






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