I was very lucky to arrive in Quito during their city festival (Fiesta), which featured free concerts and street parties throughout the city. There was also a bull fighting ring set up in the historic center, which based on the cars parked outside, seemed to be very popular among the city’s elite class. The hostel I stayed at was very well located in the historic center and had a great view from the roof terrace. Unfortunately the location came with a steep uphill climb followed by 5 flights of stairs to the reception on the rood terrace!! From the terrace you could see the church lights at night, which mark the Calle de 7 Cruzes (street of 7 crosses), the main street of the historic center.

After checking out a few street concerts on the first night, I walked around town the next day and discovered the market in one of the many parks throughout the city. The prices seemed relatively cheap, although they don’t have their own currency anymore. The ecuadorian Sucre was officially replaced  by the US dollar after inflation sky rocketed and simple products start costing thousands of sucres. I finally reached Plaza Foch, which is Quito’s main night life area and is probably the best place to be after 11 pm as the rest of the city turns in to a ghost town (except during the fiesta of course). At night, there was a street concert and party just outside the hostel, so we all joined and danced with the locals as they continued to offer everyone more and more local drinks. It was great to see locals welcome tourists like that and include them in their celebrations, without any hidden agendas.

The next day, on of my new friends from the hostel asked if I wanted to join him and go meet a family friend he had in Quito. So we went to meet her at the Teleferico to go up to the active Pichincha Volcano and catch a great overview of Quito. We started to get a bit more insights from her about life in Quito and how Ecuador has become a huge consumer market. But also about her experience as a ex-restaurant owner and their relaxed work ethic, especially if you befriend people working for you, which reminded me a bit of Egypt. On the way back down we saw some people playing volley ball, but as it turns out, this was Ecua-volley. Ecuador’s own version of volleyball and they’re crazy about it. The net is much higher than a normal volleyball net and they play it with a football, using their hands and each teams consists of 3 players. Finally she took us to eat some local food and I tried the shrimp ceviche and it was served with tostadas (roasted corn but not fully popped) and popcorn, which they usually serve with soups here (like croutons). The ceviche was very different here and not made with lemon juice as usual but with a different marinage that included ketchup. I think I prefer the classic lemon recipe though.

The free walking tour we joined the next day was not as great as in other cities, but it did lead us to the changing of the guard ceremony, which, to be honset, I feel is nice as a show but having guards standing there with swords for long hours to guard the palace is completely useless and somewhat degrading for the guards. But I know that not everyone sees it this way, so I won’t elaborate any further.

After the tour I went to visit the home and museum of probably Ecuador’s greatest artist; Guayasamin. He lived in a huge villa at the top of a hill overlooking Quito and built his own museum on the premises. After touring his home and watching an impressive video of him painting a portrait of the great Paco de Lucia in about an hour, followed by seeing the actual portrait, I made my way towards the museum. He has a very distinct style of painting, which is a bit dark for my taste, but I did manage to find my favorite painting amongst the darkness 😉

On my last day in Quito, I started with a typical ecuadorian breakfast of rice, chicken, fried eggs, cheese, bread, tea and juice and made my way up the tower of Quito’s main Basilica for some more great views of the city. There was only one thing left to do, go to middle earth.

One of the people at the hostel and I took the Metrobus, which also works perfectly here, and we made our way to the outskirts of Quito. Now we had heard and read about the controversy regarding the location of middle earth (the equator line or Latitude 00°00’00”). There was a huge monument/theme park dedicated to the “Mitad del Mundo”, which was built based on some very old french calculations. However, after GPS technology arrived, a more updated calculation placed the equator just over 200 meters away from the huge monument and outside the park. So a group of people set up another museum there, claiming that they are the real “Mitad del Mundo”. Just to be safe, we visited both of these places and the newer, smaller museum was much cooler. The people there were friendly and it includes a free english tour and lots of experiments (or tricks if you trust what you find on google) that show some of the phenomenon that only happen on the equator line. For example, water going down a drain usually spins clockwise or anti-clockwise. On the equator line it just went straight down!
Apparently, balancing an egg on a nail is also only possible on the equator line. Whether these phenomenon are real or just tricks is not really clear once you do some more research though, but regardless it was still quite exciting to be on the equator (or at least so close to it). The other theme park and monument were not so impressive and very impersonal. Also all the information was in spanish, which was really strange as the park is advertised as a tourist attraction.

So after completing this mission, it’s time to get moving again and head in to the mountains.

A panorama view from the hostel’s roof terrace is unbeatable and worth the 5 flights of stairs!

Zooming in to see the Basilica.

One of the many parks in the city.

Some street art on the way back to the hostel.

The view from the top of Pichincha volcano. They say Quito looks like a sausage, what do you think?

We start the walking tour by walking through the Calle de 7 Cruzes and from here you can see the angel statue at the top of the hill.

One of the impressive churches on the tour…

… followed by another.

The horses used by the presedential guards had some very interesting hair styles. Checkers and braids was the theme.

Guayasamin’s own museum was huge like his artwork. Unfortunately, photo’s were not allowed inside the villa or museum.

A decorated garage door, just outside the Guayasamin estate.

More street art near Guayasamin’s residence.

My typical ecuadorian breakfast.

The Basilica was definitely the most impressive church on the Calle de 7 Curzes.

It also features condors instead of gargoyles on the towers, since condors hold more meaning for ecuadorians.

Zooming in by climbing the tower.

One of the schools as seen from the top of the Basilica towers. I loved how clean the capital was!

That’s what you might call, a balanced diet 😛

Sitting on the french equator inside the Mitad del Mundo park.

I really like their crossing signs here. The guy has some very fancy pants and shoes on. Like he’s going to a wedding or to a dance.