Quito, Ecuador – My 35 days in Ecuador are coming to an end, tomorrow I began a two day journey to Cape Town, South Africa. There was a period of my stay I didn’t like, but I slowly warmed to this diverse country. Looking back on my time, I can now appreciate all the amazing things I saw. From the maejestic Andes mountains to the biodiverse Amazon rainforest, from the cold peaks of Cotopaxi to the warm oceans of the Galápagos, from the charming small city of Banos to the sprawling metropolis of Quito to everything in between, this is certainly a country of contrasts.
The highlights for me were the Galápagos (obviously!), the charming cities of Banos and Cuenca (where I did little more than visit coffee shops, drink local artisan beer, wander aimlessly and eat cake), visiting the Panama hat factory (purely 100% Ecuadorian made, see below), my homely Bouquito hostel (seriously, I could move in there. The atmosphere inside helped turn my whole mood around and made me feel very happy and at peace), visiting the butterfly farm in Mindo (so many beautiful species), spending a warm sunny Monday on an open top bus with a former tour group friend Elmar (friendships are always fleeting as a traveller, but nice to share moments with someone when you can), hiking into the spectacular Quiltolia crater lake (maybe it was the turquoise waters I loved), admiring all the outfits of the indiginious women (generally a hat of some sort, their long black hair pulled back and wrapped around with a colourful ribbon, a long shirt wrapped with a fringed shawl, a Knee length velvet skirt heavily embroidered, thick tights or knee length wool socks, and Queeny style chunky pumps. Each region was slightly different, usually the hats) and visiting the home and gallery of Ecuadors most famous artist, Guayasamin (his cubist like works portraying human suffering through war, oppression and slavery and hope for world peace, really spoke to me. And he had the most spectacular house. I want!). Whilst I didn’t feel I ‘did’ much here, taking in the beautiful scenery made up for it! And I learned some things along the way. Below are some of the random facts and observations I discovered about Ecuador:
* Quito is the highest capital city in the world. You will get out of breath climbing the stairs to your hotel room for at least the first couple of days. Don’t even attempt the high altitude hikes of Cotopaxi or Quiltola until you’ve acllimitised. It’s deceiving. I kept thinking, “When did I get so unfit?!’ Then I had to remind myself it was the altitude. Still disconcerting when just walking down the street leaves you panting for air.
* The city of Quito is over 50km long. But only 8km wide, with 2 million inhabitants. It’s postion, nestled amongst the Andes makes for some spectrular viewpoints.
* The indiginious Cuenca people eat guiena pigs as part of their daily diet and sell them for extra income. I went into one families home that had 120 of the fury creatures running around on the straw floor, some of them just babies only a few inches long. Cute little buggers! Sadly, I never got around to trying one.
* For some unknown reason, there is a lack of change in circulation. I have often tried to get a coffee or cake and haven’t been able to as the shop couldn’t cash my $10 or $20 note. This also works in your favour as a shop or hotel will charge you less, I.e. Take whatever you have if they can’t cash your notes. This happened to me at a hotel. My bill was $27. I had two $20 notes and some loose change. She took my first $20 and all the change I had as she couldn’t give me change for my other $20. Think I saved around $3.50. Result!
* Dogs are everywhere. Most of them friendly. But I’ve only seen one cat whilst I’ve been here. A very friendly one on a Hacienda near Cayambe. Odd. Maybe they eat them like the guiena pigs.
* Apperently there is a high crime, petty theft rate in Quito. Evidence of this is everywhere. I’ve seen on average 300 police, security guards a day. I had to go through an armed guard, and two locked doors to get into the Harley Davidson shop. Saying that, I travelled on the local bus regularly and felt safe. Only had my umberella pick pocketed, but that was standing in a crowded Easter procession. Kinda expected that.
* Did you know that the infamous Panama Hat is actually a product of Ecuador? Nor did I! They are called that as many were shipped to Panama for the workers building the Panama Canal. They are actually100% made in and around Cuenca. Great factory! And great fun trying on all the different styles.
* Roses, and other cut flowers, are one of the top exports for the country. You can get a beautiful dozen for around $US3 on the market. Bargin!
* Several spots in Ecuador claim to be ‘The Middle of the Earth’ and the real Equator line. I went to all three to be sure I was actually on latitude 0.00.00. Still don’t know which one is the real one, but I have my proof I was there!
* In the countryside, meals are cheap. For US$3 you could get a two course lunch of soup, and main of chicken, rice, fried banana and a fresh juice. I loved the tree tomatoe juice. And my favourite meal was horenado, pulled pork with bulging white corn and avacodo and some crackling I got for $3 at the Cuenca market. Always a risk eating the market food, but it’s invariably the best.
*Ok, actually my favourite meal(s) was Fanesca soup. This soup is traditionally eaten on Good Friday by the Catholics. Everyone makes it slightly different, but most include 12 different types of beans and grains including rice, lentils, peas, broad beans. The base is of squash, pumpkin, and milk. Garnishes include hard boiled eggs, cheese, deep fried crouton balls, and mini empanadas. Oh, and there is dry salted cod inside too! Simply delicious. I had it three times!
* There are over 1,000 types of orchids in Ecuador. Each delicate one vibrantly different than the next.
