Ecuador wasn’t on my bucket list, but after a two-week visit we’re wondering when to go back. There is so much visual splendor that you spend half your time gawking. Good food, friendly people, affordable – I can’t recommend it enough. And no, we didn’t even get to Galapagos or the Amazon. The Andes alone are worth at least a couple of weeks.
Delta flies direct to Quito, but you’ll want to start taking altitude sickness drugs (acetazolamide) a few days in advance. At 9,300’, you’ll start missing oxygen pretty soon. Marching back up to our hilltop hotel resulted in shortness of breath and pounding hearts for the first couple of days even with the drugs. But eventually we’d acclimate.
Hotel Castillo Vista del Angel was worth the climb for the views. We arrived after they’d closed the dining room, but they were happy to provide drinks while we admired the view. They also served the best breakfasts we had the entire trip, and it was the cleanest of the three places we stayed in Quito.
Quito’s historic center fell into disrepair over the centuries. However, they’ve restored a lot of the Spanish Colonial glory so now the area is a gem. We rarely left the city center, yet didn’t get to all the attractions we wanted to visit.
Epic churches, interesting museums, excellent food, vendors on the street selling everything from pastry to paintings – you could spend a few days walking around looking at doors.
We stumbled across more than one art deco building as well, though often these are sitting empty. Not old enough to restore, but not new enough to occupy? One appeared to be an office or apartment block, perhaps with retail on the ground floor, another a theater I longed to see. If you’re looking for an investment opportunity…
The only thing the city center lacks is exciting nightlife. There are people out after dark, and the occasional live acoustic music coming from a café/bar, but we didn’t spy any dive bars or dance clubs. There are neighborhoods nearby with extensive options after dark (rooftop bars being a popular offering,) but various guides warn against wandering at night. Cabs and Uber are super cheap, so if you want to stay in the older quarter, yet need to bar hop, get a ride.
The other thing that’s cheap – set lunches. They go for about $4 and include soup, bread, rice, potatoes, salad, a choice of a couple meats, and a beverage. It’s what a lot of locals eat and a good way to sample traditional fare. Ecuadorans use a bit more spice than Central Americans, including a killer “aji” salsa that’s almost always on the table. We enjoyed the soup at San Ignacio so much we returned to see what they’d do with dinner a week later.
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You can find more creative menus even in the historic neighborhood. La Purisima serves fantastic craft cocktails, interesting twists on Ecuadorian favorites, and an amazing, complicated dessert. So good we returned for our final meal of the trip. Our tab was about half what it would be in the States.
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Speaking of money, Ecuador switched to the U.S. dollar in 2000 after rampant inflation of their own currency. If you ever wonder what happened to all those Sacagawea dollar coins, a lot of them are in circulation in Latin American countries, worn to the point where it’s hard to tell what the coin is. But at least you don’t have to convert currencies.
As much as we loved the historic center, it does have some narrow, frequently one-way roads that create bottlenecks and trap exhaust fumes. A few streets and plazas are pedestrian-only, however, so we found ourselves returning to those for more relaxing walks.
This Spanish Colonial building, empty and crumbling, sits on the boundary of the historic center, adjacent to a modern mural and a park with bronze sculptures, all sitting near the base of the hill with the giant angel statue, Virgin of El Panecillo.
On the other side of the historic district, you can tour portions of the gothic-style basilica, built between 1892 and 1909. Wikipedia says it’s not actually done yet, and it has a sort of odd roughness about it, as if they never got around to sanding and polishing. It has weathered a bit in 120+ years as well. You can walk through the interior of the decidedly sci-fi roof and climb the towers, a rather nerve-racking experience if you’re afraid of heights and, like me, were awoken by a 4.7 magnitude earthquake that very morning.
There is a free walking tour of the old quarter that starts at the basilica. We missed it, but it is googleable.
We visited in August, during which Ecuador celebrates its independence. A parade marched through Plaza Grande, the prettier of the two big plazas in the town center. Things started off with a military band, which led countless troupes of baton twirlers, divisions of dancers in traditional attire, battalions of marching bands, and even a few squads of Andean ladies in their sharp fedoras waving colorful scarves.
The parade lasted so long we had to get out of the sun. Museo Casa del Alabado houses some incredible pre-Columbian artifacts, mostly in ceramics and often in surreal forms. I love this stuff, particularly when an ancient piece seems completely modern, or completely alien.
We followed that with a ride a few miles over to Museo Mindalae: Handicrafts Museum. The bulk of their collection includes reproductions of ancient or traditional arts and crafts from across Ecuador. Worth visiting just for their reasonably-priced gift shop.
Mindalae is in a neighborhood packed with clubs and restaurants, so we walked a few blocks to Miskay restaurant for lunch. Delicious ceviche, a traditional goat stew, tasty roast pork and interesting cocktails. As we left, party buses were already cruising the block, so if it is nightlife you’re after this is one of the areas to consider.
A week later, we swung back through Quito and had dinner at San Ignacio, where we’d had a set lunch before. They’re on a street the locals frequently meander down, so you can sit on their patio and enjoy some fine people-watching. They had live music inside on this particular evening, a couple of guys doing songs so well-known even I recognized a few. A group of ladies at a neighboring table rushed in to dance and sing along. A wedding in the church nearby ended, the bride and groom cruising by in a vintage Mercedes followed by their families and friends, walking down the block in formal attire. Though the historic center attracts a lot of tourists, it has a local life of its own.
We felt safe in the old quarter (though I did lose my cellphone likely to a pickpocket.) There are signs of homelessness, and a few historic buildings yet to be reclaimed.
Outside the center, the city of 2.8 million sprawls for 76 square miles across the length of the valley and up the hillsides to create the illusion that it goes on forever.
In the more modern areas, you see a lot of steel roll-up doors covered in graffiti, concrete tower blocks, and American chain restaurants (KFC being an apparent favorite.)
There is a new metro, though it only has a few stops completed. The newer sections of town have multi-lane, loud streets, often twisted into byzantine labyrinths due to the canyons and hills. To get to one highway, we were taken in the opposite direction for miles.
An Ecuadorian confirmed reports that tourism is down nationwide due to an increase in crime. The capital of Guayaquil and other port towns have been particularly dangerous of late. Right-wing president Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency to stamp it out with militarized methods. Sound familiar? Bordering countries like Colombia have higher crime rates historically, yet their tourism is stable, according to some. If you visit Quito, treat it like any major city. Out in the countryside of the Andes, we felt even safer.
Next: Laguna Quilotoa