Enchanting Ecuador - May 2018

Street dancing

We arrived in Quito, from San Francisco via Fort Lauderdale, at around midnight and had booked a taxi supplied by the hostel we were staying at.  We always try to prearrange transport to our destination in an unfamiliar country after a long flight.  Less room for getting ripped off as sometimes happens when we are tired and our guard is down.

Happy travellers

We woke the next morning to enjoy complimentary tea and coffee supplied all day at Hostal Rosario. This was an unexpected and very welcome treat!  Upon stepping out of the door and into the Old Town of Quito we knew immediately that we would love it here.  Luckily we had booked to stay for five days.  The first few days are necessary to aclimatise to the altitude.  Quito is at 2,850m and you really notice it with any physical exertion ... even just walking up the stairs at the hostal.

 We happily wandered the streets taking in the sights and (sometimes unusual) smells of the city. 

A breakfast of potato cakes, avocado, fried eggs and salad was enjoyed at the local market.  Delicious.

We loved the street food too, even though sometimes we don't know what it is!

In a nearby square we came across a colourful display of traditional dancing.  

 Speaking of colour, Clare was delighted to come across a few yarn shops. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending which way you look at it) the yarn was all acrylic so none was purchased.   This minor detail didn't stop her being thrilled with the discovery

The weekly changing of the guards was on the Presidential Palace during our visit so we went along to the square to watch, along with a great many others.  What a lot of fanfare it was and we were really happy to have experience of it.

Gotta love the bamboo spear poles

The Basilica was very near to our accommodation but we decline to pay to go in ... it really was pretty enough from the outside.  We become fairly immune to the tourist traps in the places we go to both for financial reasons but also because there is a limit to how many churches and temples we wish to look at.

One of the things you first notice immediately upon arrival in Quito is the statue of Mary or variably ... Virgin of the Apocalypse, Winged Virgin of Quito, Dancing Madonna, and Legarda's Virgin .  We took a taxi up (for reasons aforementioned) to see it and walked back down the hill.

A view of just one side of the city

There were signs at the bottom of the track warning of robbers in the area but all we encountered was this cute and curious kitty ..... and a (sadly) very drunk man.

We also came across some fairly chilled street dogs resting in the afternoon sun.

We were fairly impressed to note the city taking their refuse disposal quite seriously.  Well, on the face of it anyway.  We suspect these three bins all seem to feed into the same underground receptacle which is then sucked out from a manhole at the street side.

Clare was mesmerised by the gorgeous women in there traditional 'dress'.  Most of us wouldn't think to put some of these colours together.  It is time to ask ourselves why not?

James was amused by this shop which seems to sell only pulleys!  As this is not such a throw away society, these guys still fix stuff rather than replacing it.  Mostly from a cost aspect but also because of the lack of available equipment and resources.  These kinds of shops would have been plentiful in the UK and NZ many years ago too.  Before we became such consumerist societies.  Just sayin'.

Oh, and you can get your shoes shined for next to nothing.

Loved Quito but it was soon time to catch a bus and head for our first South American housesit on the coast.

This may not seem like much of a photo to you, but to us it speaks a thousand words.  This was the view of our last day in Quito.  James woke feeling a little unwell so we spent most of the day in our room .... and we were up all night, both with a violent case of Delhi belly, most likely caused by one of our street meals.   It didn't bode well for our early morning start to catch a bus to Manta .... but such are the joys of travelling.  We must take the bad with the (mostly) good.

Will this stop us from sampling the food the locals eat everywhere we go?   Hell no!