Around the World in 180 Days with D and N: Quito from a Bus Top

On Monday June 8 we left the Galapagos for the Ecuadorean mainland. After a flight from the Baltra airport (with a building using the latest energy-saving techniques) and a re-fueling layover in Guayaquil, we arrived in Quito around 4 pm. The Quito airport is new and in a location about 45 minutes from the city center. We stayed in an apartment in the old town, or what the locals call the centro historico or Quito Colonial. The apartment is in a renovated 350 year old building. The owners, Ken Farr, a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer and Maria Teresa Garcia, a well-known photographer, live in the building. The old town is very hilly. Think of San Francisco at an elevation of 9,250 feet and you'll get the idea. Quito is the second-highest capital in the world after La Paz, Bolivia. We headed downhill a few blocks and had dinner at the Plaza Grande Hotel, located, where else, but on the Plaza Grande, the main square.

The next day we began our exploration with a hop on/off bus tour. Quito sits on the equator and is surrounded by mountains, including the twin peaks of the Pichincha Volcano. The city itself is long and narrow, 22 miles long and 2 to 3 miles wide. The population of the greater Quito area is about 2.2 million, second in size in Ecuador to Guayaquil. We hopped on at the Plaza Grande and continued though the narrow streets of the old city and into the new city.

The new portions were planned in the 1940's, but building really didn't take off until the population spurted in the 1970's and 80's. The new area is modern, but frankly the architecture didn't impress us in comparison to the contemporary architecture of Santiago and Buenos Aires. We rode the bus back through the historic district and up to El Panecillo, or "the little bread loaf" which dominates the southern edge of the old town and is capped by an aluminum 30 meter statue of the virgin (with wings). The placement of the statue, in the 1990's, was controversial due to it being a reproduction of the original in the San Francisco church and the fact that the summit of the hill was the site of an Incan sun temple. We missed the Hop On bus and took a taxi back down to the town, where Nick climbed back up to the apartment carrying a 6 liter water container.