Arriving in Quito

Quito Highlights:

• Investigating “Old Town” Quito
• Walking through the roof of the Basilica del Voto Nacional and climbing its bell towers
• Eating lots of traditional Ecuadorian foods. Popcorn is served with almost every meal! 
• Seeing the copious amounts of graffiti around the city

We began our time in Ecuador with a self-guided tour of Quito on 10/16/11. We were advised to hire a taxi as the city can be unsafe for touristos so from our hotel in the Mariscal area, we grabbed a taxi to the Old Town area. 

It was a Sunday so some of the streets in the Old Town area were barricaded and only open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic.  The streets in Old Town are narrow; vehicles DO NOT yield to pedestrians.

The streets and squares were lively with music, vendors, and lots of locals enjoying the day.  There were very few other tourists around.

We had a awesome time checking out some of the churches, particularly the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a Gothic style church which adornments include depictions of various species of birds protruding from one side of the chapel, and reptiles protruding from the opposite side. The steeple of Basilica del Voto Nacional is very ornate and can be accessed by walking across a rickety catwalk above the domed top of the chapel and below the peak, or roof, which then leads to a series of ladders.  (This all would not fly in the US.)   From the steeple and bell tower there are fabulous views of the city.

We spent time in several city squares watching the people of the city and the entertainment, and enjoyed some “te de coca” (coca leaf tea), which relieved our slight altitude headaches.  We felt comfortable enough at this point to walk the 25 blocks or so back to our hotel, Sierra Madre, taking in the sights along the way including a large city park filled with people enjoying plays, playgrounds, picnics, and in one area multiple intermingled ‘futbol’ games.  Super fun.

Here's a link to more photos.