Friday,
April 25
No
longer able to rely on the kitchen crew of the Santa Cruz to provide delicious
meals – and knowing the battle necessary to get the kids out of the hotel and
into a restaurant for a quick breakfast – I set off early in the morning to see
what I can score for takeout. Because
the Río Amazonas provides coffee in the lobby, all I need to locate is some
solid food. This proves not to
difficult as I quickly come upon a bakery just a few doors down from the hotel
entrance. I purchase six huge sweet
rolls and for this bounty I am relieved of a total of $1.40. While I find this figure to be a bit
confusing because $1.40 is not evenly divisible by 6 and there is no added
sales tax in Ecuador, I can only assume that a partial dozen discount has been
applied (i.e., 25 cents each or 6 for $1.40).
Proud of my rapid and economical procurement, I am quickly brought to
earth upon returning to the hotel as Eric and Jeffrey turn their noses up at
this selection – preferring to consume the remains of some candy that we had
bought the night before.
After
this makeshift breakfast, we herd everyone down to the lobby to await the
arrival of our tour guide for the day.
Presently, Santiago arrives with a driver and minivan in tow. We make our introductions, discuss a bit
what we would like to see, and then set off.
Our first stop is one of Santiago’s favorite overlooks of the city. Because Quito is a city that sprawls over
many hills and valleys, there are many such overlooks. This first overlook is on the same hilltop
as is occupied by the Hotel
Quito. From here you see a
profusion of high rise apartments clinging to the hillsides as well as houses and
other neighborhoods occupying the valleys.
Our
next stop is Quito’s Old Town. This
section of Quito was constructed during the 16th through 18th
centuries and is much more picturesque than the Mariscal. We visit several of its cathedrals and
churches. Each of these structures
shows decoration that reflects a mélange of traditional Catholic and
pre-Columbian Indian influences, e.g., sculptures of saints with a gathering of
frogs around their feet. All of the
churches are in constant use and are filled with people praying, receiving
confession, celebrating mass, etc. This
is far different from my experience with European cathedrals that now seem to
serve primarily touristic purposes and show little evidence of continuing
active use. Unfortunately, Quito lies
in a very active fault zone and its architecture has fallen victim to repeated
earthquakes since its founding in 1534.
The most recent major earthquake in 1987 damaged nearly all of Quito’s
ancient churches. Because Ecuador is a
poor country, repairs are achingly slow.
Hence much of these churches’ beauty remains obscured by protective
scaffolding.
The
most impressive of Quito’s cathedrals is San Francisco de Quito. It sets as the backdrop to a large municipal
square. This square features many vendors
(largely children) eager to seek the custom of tourists. Particularly popular souvenirs are brightly
colored scenes of Ecuador and Quito painted either on goat skin stretched over
small frames or on small wooden boxes.
One of the youngest of these vendors engages Barbara in a conversation
through Santiago. He claims to be about
10 years old (my guess is that this may be a slight understatement) and states
that he has painted these scenes himself (which may also be an exaggeration
because there appears to be a certain standardization across the different
vendors’ merchandise. In solidarity
with a fellow artist, Barbara succumbs and we are now proud owners of several
of these souvenirs. Would that our
children be already earning their keep.
In
addition to this tourist commerce, other dramas play out in and around the
square. Because it is ringed by
government offices, many of the people coming and going appear to have official
business, e.g., paying tax bills, seeking marriage licenses and birth certificates,
etc. Especially colorful are the
sprinkling of Indians. The bright hues
of their clothing punctuate the otherwise dull coloring of the square. These are mostly women – typically between
15 and 25 years old and almost always with several small children in tow and a
baby strapped papoose fashion to her back.
Rather than appreciating the difference of their circumstances from that
of the children in square, our boys are more interested in a toy store located
in its northwest corner.
As
we continue our walk through Old Town, we traverse streets given over
completely to market stalls. Some of
these stalls appear to take specialization to a new level. In my experience, the previous holders of
the world championship belt for market specialization are the electronics
stalls in Tokyo’s Akihabara district.
There you would see a stalls devoted to specialties like different types
of electrical plugs – just the kind that grace the end of a cord. But in Quito we see individual stalls
dedicated solely to shoe polish, solely to clothespins and solely to Oster
blender parts. I remain at a loss as to
why Oster blenders are of such unique importance to Quitoenos.
Before
leaving Quito, we visit el Panecillo.
This is a hilltop (that supposedly looks like a bread roll – panecillo)
providing a vantage over the whole of Quito.
Its top is crowned by a large statue of the Virgin. El Panecillo is alternatively reachable by
car or a long series of steps. Car
access is recommended because of tales of frequent muggings of those climbing
the steps. Given Quito’s 10,000 foot
altitude, exhausted breathless tourists climbing these steps would seem to be
easy marks for the brigands. Arriving
by car, we experience no such problems, have a good view and grab a quick snack
from the food vendors surrounding the parking lot at the statue’s base.
Piling
back into the van, we head for Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world). This is an exhibition park about 15 miles
north of Quito that is located precisely on the equator. After taking the many obligatory photos of
ourselves straddling the hemispheres, we have lunch at a very nice
restaurant. The star of our meal is a
very tasty potato and cheese soup.
(Again, nowhere are so many varieties of potatoes so well prepared as in
the Andean countries.)
On
our way back to Quito, we search for an ATM.
Because Galasam demands a 5% surcharge for credit cards, we are paying
for our tours in cash and our banknote supply needs to be replenished. We stop at several banks along the way, but
despite signs claiming that their ATMs are part of the Plus network, each
rejects our transaction – but at least with the politeness of returning our
card. Discussions between Santiago and
our driver as to how to circumvent these refusals come to a conclusion that the
best bet for a successful transaction is at a Banco de Guayaquil ATM. And sure enough, when we visit its office in
downtown Quito, the transaction goes through like a charm. There really is no substitute for local
knowledge.
After
being deposited back at our hotel, we plan the rest of the day’s
activities. There are several souvenirs
that we saw earlier in Old Town that we have decided to purchase. But Jeffrey doesn’t want to go out. So he and mom stay at the hotel while
Barbara, Eric and I set forth to return to Old Town. We approach a taxi at the hotel entrance, and following Quito
guidebook doctrine to prevent “inoperative” meter overcharges, we pre-negotiate
a rate of $5 for the several mile trip.
Upon
reaching Old Town, we disembark and purchase several items at the market. One of these items is a digital watch whose
face glows purple that was the apple of Jeffrey’s eye during our morning
visit. The price is $10 and there is no
instruction booklet available, either in English or in Spanish. (Back in our hotel room I will attempt to
program the watch to the proper time and date.
Even though there are only three buttons on the watch, do you know how
long of a semi-educated trial and error process is necessary before an
undocumented digital watch is correctly programmed? More than you might imagine.)
We look around the market a bit more, but then the skies open up and it
begins to pour. We hail a taxi for our
return and the meter begins to tick.
When we reach our hotel, the metered fare has mounted only to a
decidedly un-munificent $1.80. We exit
the cab leaving a generous tip. So much
for my acumen at pre-establishing taxi rates.
The
boys demand to be returned to Pizza Hut for their dinner, and later we adults
go out to a restaurant called La Crèperie for fondue bourguignon. Because we will be dispersing on different
local tours tomorrow (plus Barbara, I and the kids will be boarding our return
flight in the evening), upon our return to the hotel we split up our camera
gear and begin to pack.
|
Eric and Richard in Quito |
At one of
Quito’s overlooks |
|
Mitad del Mundo monument north of Quito |
On the
equator |
|
With Santiago on the equator |
Eric and Jeffrey at Mitad del
Mundo park
|
