Quito – amusemusings

I visited Quito twice on this trip. The first time with Gina for 1.5 days. The second time with Kristin & Amy for 1 day after the rest of our Ecuador adventures on our way to Peru. I played the role of tour guide the second time during our 10hr layover. So while I know there’s more to see, I’m fairly confident I can give a pretty good overview of Quito’s old town in a day, including plenty of time for food & drink, as we all came away loving the city.

Teleferico ride up to the mountains surrounding Quito, specifically Volcan Pichincha, for a fabulous lookout over the city & hike. Or in G&I’s case… a closer look at the cloud enveloping the mountain top.

The view from El Panecillo, a hilltop overlooking the old town, featuring a statute of the Virgin Mary.

Climbing stairs & frighteningly steep ladders to the top of a gorgeous Basilica del Voto Nacional w stunning views of the old town & El Panecillo. Due to my bizarre fear of ladders, this was no easy task for me so I chose to sit out the second round & grabbed a drink at the base while waiting for the girls.

The basilica may now be my fave church toured due to the unusual concrete animal statues diving off the facade. How boring are gargoyles when you can instead have anteaters, monkeys & alligators? I’m a big fan of the unusual.

Unlike G, I did NOT have a smile on my face when tackling the ladder

Wandering the streets of the old town & exploring its lovely plazas including Plaza Grande featuring the Presidential palace & political rallies (especially the week before the national election) & Plaza San Francisco.

Traditional Ecuadorian lunch of fritada sitting outdoors in the lovely Plaza San Francisco (my personal fave Quito plaza) & perhaps a game (or 5) of triangle dominoes, the addicting game I discovered in Bottle Beach, Ko Pha Ngan that G heroically stashed in her backpack to Ecuador.

Drinks on the rooftop of Vista Hermosa restaurant overlooking the old town, it’s plazas & El Panecillo.

Wandering La Ronda, a beautifully quiet pedestrian street during the day featuring shops & art galleries that transforms at night into a raucous array of cafes, bars & live music.

While not ready to leave Colombia, I was quite excited to move on to Ecuador, not only bc I was so looking forward to visiting the Galapagos, long on my must-see list, but also bc 3 close friends were meeting me. I had a day+ in Quito to kill before the first arrived so of course I decided to get out of the city & into nature. It was a Saturday & that meant the largest outdoor market in all of South America dating back hundreds of years was happening up north in Otavalo so I headed there on a 3hr cramped local bus. I wandered, found the Ecuadorian version of street food, shopped too much given I only have a small backpack & then decided to hire a taxi driver to run me to Cotacachi, a dormant Andes volcano 30mins away that especially piqued my interest when I flew directly over it the day prior, for a couple hours of hiking at 4,500m (ugh) before returning to Quito to meet my girl, G. My only regret? Not spending more time up north. The Andes scenery was beautiful & very unique as it was quite lush & featured several massive volcanoes dotting the horizon. I could easily spend a week+ up here hiking & exploring. Next time.