The things you can see in Quito, Ecuador

Quito is a big city. It looks and feels like almost any large city in South Americs in some parts. That being said, it is set in an amazing valley that is absolutely breath taking once you get out of the city proper.

Some of the parks have clever looking structures of wood, metal, and even entire old trees stacked together; all of which are absolutely begging to be climbed all over. With little to no idea of what to do within Quito other than take Spanish lessons, I head for what appears to be a prominent backpacker haunt in between the much lauded New Town and the auspicious Old Town. Before you jump into a taxi, be sure you are at the bus station you think you are. The North Bus Station is extremely far north of the city and can cost you to taxi to and from.

L’Auberge Inn is definitely serviceable. Their wireless is decent and you can keep a decent signal if you get the second floor rooms facing the main street; this also gives you a balcony and a great deal of traffic noise in the morning. L’Auberge has a restaurant inside, though I would recommend either of the restaurants directly across the street for a much cheaper and delicious lunch, or one of two bakery/breakfast places about 2 blocks to the south on the other side of the  main road. Neither of the breakfast joints seem to have names, but you’ll know when you get there. If you are going to eat at the hostel I would recommend avoiding the spaghetti bolognese. For dinner or snacks there is a grocery store on the same side of the road about one block north of L’Auberge inn that has a mildly English speaking attendant and everything you could want out of a third world country. Frontera (CabSav) seems to be the best available wine for any price. It adds a touch of class to the city night, as you can see.

Gareth is a young English bloke from Reading, England. He is one of the most friendly and talkative people I have ever seen. He is bristling with information about Ecuador and is ready to go find some adventure; his Spanish is terrible, but that never stops him from trying his best. For the two days following my arrival in Quito, he and I bounce around the city and talk to the varied inhabitants of the hostel; the highlight of those being a four member motorcycle loving family from Texas, including their Six and Eight year old children who have been traveling South America for the past year.

At the recommendation of the guide book I’ve been lugging around and cursing for some time, I decide to head up to Mitad del Mundo; the Middle of the Earth. Gareth has already been there so I am off on my own; braving the metro bus system. The trip there, on my lovely blue bus, is relatively uneventful and even with the rain I have a great time playing with tourists and snapping pictures. I even manage to find an espresso machine.

As I am leaving Middle Earth, a green bus rolls up to the bus stop and tells me they are headed to Quito. Not one to stand in the rain, I hop on and go for a ride. Map in hand, I attempt to engage the change collector in discussion about where I need to go and when to get off. The gentleman cannot seem to communicate with me, one of the minority of people in Ecuador who is too heavily accented for my to understand. Nearly a half hour passes on the bus whilst I try to get someone to direct my gringo self to the proper bus stop. During this time I am ignored, babbled at, and even given the opportunity to stare at a rather well formed brown breast as a woman decides to breast feed her baby while we are talking. You can imagine my surprise.

Finally, I seem to have conveyed my message through blunt force and the driver of my green bus speeds up, cuts off a blue bus, forcing them to a stop, and I jump out and board the blue bus. Two relatively antisocial Norwegians, red and blonde hair respectively, are at the back of the bus and I attempt to speak with them until we get to a bus stop I recognize. Walking in large cities in Latin America can net you some pretty impressive sights. It’s neat what people will do for a dollar.

The following day, having been told that Quito was a marvelous place to take Spanish lessons, I ask the hostle to summon up their partnered professor for a couple hours of my time. I was told he would be onsite from 9-11 and I could meet with him thereafter. This was not so, and the gentleman showed up some time after 11:30. After clearly stating that I wished to study 2 hours that afternoon, and 2 hours the following morning and that I needed to practice future and past tense verb conjugation, he proceeded to try and teach me present tense irregular verbs. This went on for about 30 minutes before I asked him to cooperate or leave. He decided to cooperate.

What seemed like an eternity later, seemingly out of material, he handed me a book to read out of; lists of vocabulary. Staring at him, I asked him the time and he said that we had been going for three hours. I bid the good man adieu and packed up my bag, setting off for someplace less frustrating.

I found an absolutely wonderful couchsurfing host with magnificent dogs and the nicest house I have entered south of the US border. Victoria and I spend an evening cooking and chatting and even watching some inestimably foreign English tv show. She gives me a run down of the house and her pets; the dogs who eat everything (keep the doors closed), the cat who eats only bread (keep the cabinet doors closed) and avocados, and all their various maladies. Victoria even takes me on a walk to a simply marvelous little canyon nearby down some of the most bug addled dirt roads that exist on this planet. Victoria tells me that there are so many lights burned out in the house, that she can’t see to get her keys in the door or use one of the bathrooms. One night, she resorted to simply scaling the garden wall to get inside; after hearing this I take the keychain flashlight off my daypack and put it on her keyring.

Friday morning, and Victoria is off to work before I am awake. Unfortunately, she left both the cabinet and her bedroom door open; all the bread is in absolute ruins around the kitchen, and her bedroom floor looks like this.

Breakfast in my belly, I load up on camera equipment and, packing a pug, I head off to the canyon. Apparently it is field trip day, so I take the opportunity to talk to some of the children running around and snap a few pictures.

4 hours of hiking later, the pug, the stray, and I are all beat when we get back to the house. I manage to make some guacamole, replace all the burnt out light bulbs and break her guest bed in one afternoon. I’m not sure how that balances out, but I feel like a complete retard. Victoria is a gracious host and simply moves me to another room.

My close friend and team mate, Joe, has been toying with the idea of taking a couple weeks away and coming to Argentina and Brazil with me. He finally manages to lock in the ticket and sends me the itinerary. It’s like Christmas.

With Joe’s arrival date now locked in, this gives me one month exactly to make it to Argentina. Including a week in the Jungle, 4 days at the Salar de Uyuni, and travel time I realize I need to get moving. Mindo is barely a word in my guidebook, which makes me think it must be wonderful, so Saturday morning means more busses to a new town. I have the name of a family who hosted Gareth in my moleskin, an invaluable present from Mark, and a bus ticket. This should get me there.

In all my life, I have seen few places to rival the beauty of the mountains of Ecuador. If you ever come here, get the hell out of the city. Do not spend one more minute in Quito than you absolutely must because the secret to this country is away from the metropolis; it is in the verdant loving (mosquito-addled) embrace of the jungle and mountains. The sight of the mountains, rivers, and vegetation on the bus ride coupled with the kid falling completely out of his chair when he fell asleep completely made up for the motion sickness from the drivers Andretti impression. If you are ever coming to the mountains of Ecuador, bring Meclazin.