Quito

Quito, capital of Ecuador, elevation 2850 m, population 1.8 million. It’s the second-highest capital city in the world, second only to La Paz, Bolivia. There is some kind of weird discrepancy in that La Paz is the de facto capital of Bolivia, with Sucre being the official capital – not exactly sure what that’s all about, we haven’t got there yet. And then there’s Lhasa, Tibet, at 3500 m, which technically is no longer a capital city since China ransacked and absorbed Tibet. Suffice it to say though, Quito is a city sitting high in the Andes.

It was good to get back on the bikes. The ride from Otavalo was chill and fairly uneventful. 1000+ m climbs no longer phase us. Although, we are still fascinated by the descents which take us from the chilly down-jacket highlands into the hot shorts-and-tank-tops valley-bottom deserts – all in the span of an hour or so of coasting downhill. Conveniently there was a town at the bottom (a place called Guayllabamba) where we found a good cheap hotel serving cheap food and beer – the critical elements to the overnight stops are good (meaning clean and comfortable), cheap (10 to 20 bucks), and with access to decent cheap food (2 to 3 bucks for dinner). We have had surprisingly good luck with finding that combo thus far (knock on wood!).

We passed a significant landmark along the way: The Equator. We are now officially in the southern hemisphere. That’s cool, but we were really bummed to discover that we actually bypassed the official landmark (i.e., the place you would stop and take a picture). There seems to be some weird confusion here between a place called La Mitad Del Mondo and the actual geographic location of the equator. The Mitad del Mondo (trans: middle of the world) apparently is some ridiculous hokey tourist thing that is (1) inconveniently not anywhere near the Panamerican Highway, and (2) not on the equator. The real landmark along the highway has no signage (at least not that we noticed) and we therefore coasted by it without seeing it. Oh well, we didn’t get the photo, but we are now officially closer to the South Pole than the North Pole. BTW, that toilet thing where it’s supposed to circulate the opposite way down here...is bunk. It has nothing to do with hemispheres, and everything to do with plumbing and water pressure.

So Quito, wow, what a beautiful city. Welcome to Europe!...at a fifth the cost. The site dates way back to pre-European invasion times and was a major city of the Incas. When the Spanish looters arrived in Ecuador in the early 1500s, rather than let the city fall into their grubby hands, the Inca flattened the city and evacuated. The Spanish then built their city on top of the Inca ruins. The result, ironically, is a stunning colonial city full of grandiose ornate buildings and, of course, churches and cathedrals (the Spanish really outdid themselves by building magnificent churches on every second street corner throughout South America). The jewel of the city is the el centro or centro historico, which is obviously the “old city” where all the 400-yr old buildings and churches are.

We landed at the “Colonial House” hostel in the old city, which, true to its name is an old colonial house itself. Walking around taking in the sights is very much a tour through old Europe. Safe and clean, it is one of the grandest colonial cities either of us has visited. With the cobblestone streets, steep alleyways, towering church steeples, 300-yr-old bars and restaurants, it made for a wonderful evening of strolling the streets and checking out the live music and roof-top terraces. Europe in the middle of the Andes, who would have thunk?

The pinnacle of Spanish achievement in Quito could quite possibly be the awe-inspiring Basilica del Voto National – the largest and most ornate neo-gothic basilica in the Americas. You can see it from just about everywhere in the city, and we finally decided to hike over and check it out at close range. OMG! What a sight. As we rounded the corner to get our first up-close view of it, it really blew us away. It is indeed ginormous and incredible beyond words. We really weren’t ready for anything so spectacular. We had heard zero hype about it, and only walked over because it seemed like something we should go see. Only after some post-visit google research did we realize how significant it was. We are both amazed at what this place has to offer. Looking for a cheap European holiday? Think about Quito.

So now what? The next plan is a side trip of sorts, into the central highlands, to the town of Latacunga. We’ll be using Latacunga as a base to launch into the Quilotoa Loop – a 3 to 4-day hiking trip to some smaller remote villages high up in the Andes. As a “side trip” and primarily a hiking expedition, we’re going to leave the bikes here in Quito and switch to backpacking mode for a week or so. The plan is to return to Quito after the Loop, pack up the bikes, and head down to the coast for some beach time and a stint of coastal cycling (flat!). But that’s a whole other world from now...stay tuned, we’ll be back in a week so with the central highlands report.