We have made it to Ecuador!

We have made it to Ecuador!

   After an arduous 18 hour travel day on Tuesday, we finally made it to Quito, the second highest capital in the world at 11pm.  After arriving at our Los Alpes hotel and getting a well-deserved sleep, we awoke to sunny skies and beautiful views of the Andes Mountains.  The sky was blue and temps in the low 70’s, perhaps a good omen for our first day in Ecuador.  On our taxi ride to “old town”, we decided to take a detour up a hill to La Cima de Libertad.  Since it was an unusually clear day we could see at least 3 snowcapped mountains off in the distances,   ranging in elevation between 17,000 to 18,000 feet.  Those Rocky Mountains don’t hold a candle to these.   (See photo from up top)  We then headed back down to “old town” and started our walking tour; past lots of plaza and squares where people linger, and narrow cobblestone streets with busy traffic.   And beautiful churches built as far back as 1600.  One church, La Compania de Jesus, was as ornate as any Cathedral I have seen in Europe. 

I knew I was not in Europe or the Midwest, as I became short of breath just walking and trying to read passages from our tour book to Linda…..a byproduct of being at 10,000 feet.  Towards the end of our walk, we started looking to buy a bottle of wine for dinner that night. .  We stopped at 4 or 5 different places and I asked “Donde compare un botela de vino?” in my best broken Spanish.   Later I learned I was pronouncing botela as “billeta” which means ticket… so no wonder I was getting these weird looks from natives…what is a ticket of wine?  Eventually I ended up at the Super Maxi (super market) and learned the wine prices are disappointingly comparable to the US prices due to the heavy Ecuadorian tariff.  

Our first day ended with a wonderful dinner at the apartment of our new friends Sean and Lynne, ex- pats from Connecticut who have been living in Ecuador for 7 years.  

 Our second day here has been more low-key as we visited 3 different museums. Fortunately we had English speaking tour guide at the Case de Cultura, a comprehensive history of Ecuador with many beautiful potteries and art pieces over 2000 years old.  There is a new Museum with a wonderful display of pre-Columbian art.  We had dinner tonight in the trendy part of town, the Mariscal….with lots of young people and music blaring form bars.  We will probably try to find a good hotel near there when our kids come to Quito in December, so they have some alternative to hanging out with their boring parents.  

What have I learned about Ecuador?

 What Have I learned about Ecuador in the 48 hours I have been here?  It is geographically gorgeous with mountains and valleys all over.  IT is cool, rarely gets to the 70’s, and falls to the 40’s at night.  With no heat in our room, Linda is wearing 3 layers to bed at night.  It is cheap, our meals, hotel rooms, taxi rides cost less than half what we pay for back home (except for wine) . There appears to a defined class system, which is a bit irritating. Especially as I see these very poor women on the streets selling their wares, and having a young child or two in tow.  This country is a lot like a throwback to the 50-60’s in the US, with buses and cars throwing our fumes, and under developed roads and infrastructure.  Women seem to take a second class role, and much emphasis on appearance.  We learned from Lynne and Sean that plastic surgery is very popular among women, especially getting a more “rounded butt”.  Linda says this is "not an Issue" for her….also lots of maids in homes …hmmm we shall see if Linda falls to the peer pressure and gets a new butt and comes home with an everyday maid! 

Onto Cuenca tomorrow where we are told it is at least 8 to 10 degrees warmer.  Bring it on!