Quito Day 5, Part 1

As 2011 comes to an end, I can't help but think about all the great experiences that I had this year. It was a slower travel year for me but it was definitely a good year. The year started in Colombia along with my whole family. This was the first time in 12 years that we were all back home for New Year's Eve. I got married in August, and saving my vacation days at the beginning of the year only left me with a few trips to Miami for my Bachelorette Party and for a Luis Miguel's Concert to avoid boredom in Tampa. We also made several trips to Orlando and Jacksonville. I got married in my hometown in Cali, Colombia and it was a lot of work to plan it from far away. I had my mom helping me a lot otherwise we couldn't have had the party that we had. I wrote a series of post about Cali, Bogota, and Cartagena for some of my friends that were traveling to Colombia for our wedding. Our honeymoon was in Hawaii. I had already been to Oahu in 2008, but I was in love with Hawaii and happy to return. We visited Oahu and Kauai. Now I am in love with Kauai. After our honeymoon I had to come back to work and I thought that I wouldn't be able to ask for any more days off. Luckily I worked crazy hours in October and I was able to ask for 3 days off in November to travel to my husband's hometown of Quito, Ecuador. I turned 30 this year and was mortified to get old. The worst part of turning 30 was the anticipation. We also moved to a new apartment just before the wedding and honeymoon. We stayed in Tampa for Christmas and NYE. My family is all here so we are together, but it is not very exciting to be in Tampa. I miss the fireworks and the people on the street just being happy because it is the end of the year. I always miss Cali in this time of the year mostly because of La Feria de Cali (The Cali Fair). La Feria is the end of the year celebration that happens every year from December 25th to December 30th. There are concerts, parades, the best full fighters from the world come to Cali, the country clubs have parties with the most popular singers and bands, and the whole City participates in this massive party.

Ok, enough about 2011 and back to our Quito trip... This was probably one of my favorite days in our trip. We started the day by visiting the Guayasamin Foundation. Oswaldo Guayasamin was an amazing Ecuadorian artists. I call him the the latin american Picasso. His work is very impressive and his old house in Quito was converted into a museum. We were informed that in 2012 they are moving the museum to La Capilla del Hombre. I bought a nice print for me and my mom and many post cards that I'm planning to frame.

Fundacion Guayasamin, Quito

Inside the Guayasamin Foundation

After visiting the museum, we had lunch at Astrid & Gaston. I've been wanting to go to this restaurant in Bogota for several years. When I found out that they had one in Quito I asked Andre and his best friend to go. Astrid & Gaston is originally from Lima, but they have restaurants in all of the Capitals in Latin America. This is THE best peruvian restaurant chain that you can find. If you haven't tried Peruvian Cuisine, I highly recommend it. I had one pisco sour strong enough to make me laugh for a while. I ordered my favorite Peruvian dish, Lomo Saltado and also a ceviche as an appetizer. Astrid & Gaston did not disappoint. 

Astrid & Gaston, Quito

After our lunch, we stopped to see the Guapulo Chruch on our way to get a traditional dessert.

Guapalo Church

We drove to Cumbaya to try one of the traditional Helados de Paila. This is a handmade sorbet made of real fruit by rotating a copper pan in ice. I love all the tropical fruit flavors. They taste like a frozen fruit juice on a cone.

Helados de Paila

We were trying to go to El Panecillo to see the Virgin up close and to see Quito from the hill. We got lost and got stuck in rush hour traffic so we gave up on our trip and headed home. We tried to spend every day with Andre's parents from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM and after that we went out. This night we had plans to go with one of Andre's friends to La Ronda, a street in The Historic Downtown famous for its night life. I will blog about this night in my next post. 

Happy New Year!!!! May 2012 bring you love, health, and happiness! 

The Middle of the World

If you travel to Ecuador, one of the main tourist attractions to visit is La Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World City. The Equator, prime meridian, is located about 13 kilometers North of Quito. This is the imaginary line where the Northern and Southern hemispheres are divided. The monument located in the Middle of the World is not the exact location of the Equator. This was determined before GPSs and the exact 0° latitude is located 200 meters from there in the Inti Ñan Museum. We only went to La Mitad del Mundo, but I will try to visit Inti Ñan on our next trip to Ecuador.

The entrance fee to the Middle of the World City is $2 dollars. The City is a replica of a Spanish town and it has restaurants, shops, and a plaza for concerts on the weekends. There is also a planetarium and other museums. 

The 30 meter monument has a museum inside about the indigenous groups in Ecuador. We were lucky to have a great guide with us who told us all about the history and customs of the native Indians. Because of him we  didn't have to pay the $2 or $3 fee. Our guide, Gynson, is Andre's dad assistant and he studied tourism. Just the perfect combination for our Historic Center Tour with Andre's sister who is an art history teacher. We walked around, had lunch, shopped for souvenirs, and took pictures.  

Silly but almost obligated picture

The globe at the top of the monument

View from the top

I am biased to say that my favorite part of the Middle of the World City is the Fundacion Quito Colonial. This is a miniature replica of the historic Center of Quito. This model was hand made by my father in law. The detailing of his work is impressive and the model has lights that change from day to sunset to night and sunrise. He also made a miniature model of the Ecuadorian Cities Cuenca and Guayaquil. Those models are located in separate buildings. 

The artist

Photo Credit: Fundacion Quito Colonial 

Photo Credit: Fundacion Quito Colonial

Photo Credit: Fundacion Quito Colonial

After our tour of the Middle of the World we went to see the inactive and populated Pululahua volcano located about 20 minutes from there. We drove into the El Crater Hotel that had a beautiful view. We took a few pictures and returned to the City.

Pululahua

Quito Day 3

For this day I do not have many pictures. It was good day, but it was a slow day. The best part of the day was probably that we went to Crepes & Waffles for lunch. Crepes is a Colombian chain restaurant that has been my favorite since I was 12. Most of the salty crepes are delicious and I always order the same: ham and cheese or chicken, mushroom, and cheese. I always get a fruit juice and leave enough room for a small dessert. Crepes was very popular when I was a teenager because we would order a huge ice cream and spend the afternoon people watching. There are Crepes and Waffles restaurants in the main Colombian Cities as well as in Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela. It is an understatement to say that I was excited to go to Crepes while we were in Ecuador. I wanted to go every day, but there were many other things to eat and try while we were there. 

Pancho Villa

After lunch, we went to El Mercado Artesanal (local craft market) to buy Ecuadorian crafts and souvenirs to bring home.

I understand why we spent so little time traveling outside of Quito. Traveling to the place where we grow up is fun mostly because we want to catch up with old friends and family. I do the same when I go to Cali with the difference of being out most of the day. This trip was hard for me because I am not used to depend on someone else to plan the days. I had a hard time with my desire to see a place where I had never been before. He has been very good doing everything I wanted during our 2 previous trips to my hometown. I guess this was pay back!! Just kidding, his friends and family are all extremely nice. Don't get me wrong, we did go out a lot while we were in Quito. Maybe that is why the first year of marriage is supposed to be hard. Learning how to share everything including my precious vacation days. We will be back to Quito often and the next time I will be ready to stay inside most nights :) 

Quito's Historic Center Walking Tour

I had to look this up before I wrote it. Everyone told me Quito was a UNESCO heritage site. I confirmed that Quito, because of its large the historic center, was the first declared UNESCO World Heritage Site. The historic downtown is over 40 square blocks. We might have walked only 10 blocks this day. 

On our first full day in Quito, Andre's sister took us around downtown. She is an art history teacher. She was THE BEST tour guide I could ever had. She explained to us all of the styles of the "Quiteño" art and the history of all the churches that we visited. She really should be a tour guide for anyone going to Quito. Thanks Michelle!!  

We were still feeling sick from the altitude. Some of the streets were a little steep, but they felt like walking up a big hill because of the lack of oxygen. 

We started the walking tour at the plaza de la independecia and walked towards the cathedral, down the Garcia Moreno Street. We walked into the Sagrario, towards La Compañia de Jesus which was closed until 1:00 PM. We continued walking on Avenida Jose de Sucre towards the San Francisco church. There is a museum here but it was Sunday and they were closing so we couldn't get in.

Plaza de la Independencia

Plaza de la Independecia - Cathedral right across and the Presidential Palace on the right

President's home

El Panecillo is a hill visible from most of the City. A monument to the Virgin Mary is located on top of El Panecillo. I tried to take as many pictures as I could with this landmark.

The cathedral with the Virgen of the Panecillo in the back

Ecuador's flag - looks almost the same as the Colombian flag. The difference is the symbol in the middle. The Venezuelan flag has stars

Beautiful hotel at the Plaza de la Independencia

La Compañia de Jesus

It was Sunday and there was live Ecuadorian music while we were walking around the main plazas. I loved how people were dancing in the streets and just being happy. I made a short video to remember this moment.

Coca Tea is the best remedy for high altitude sickness

San Francisco

San Francisco - inside

San Francisco Church

We walked back towards La Compañia de Jesus church. This was the only church that had a fee to get in ($2 dollars). We were not allowed to take pictures inside this church, but I used my phone to take a few. This was the most impressive church with everything covered in gold and extreme carving details everywhere. 

We decided to take a break and have some ecuadorian ceviche. We went to "Los cebiches de la Rumiñahui".  I love peruvian ceviches and this was my first ecuadorian ceviche. It was good but I still think the peruvian is better. The mix with pop corn was a little weird but the shrimp was good.

After lunch, we walked towards the Santo Domingo church and then back towards la plaza de la independecia. There was a great store across from la plaza de la independencia for souvenirs and local products located in the City building.

Santo Domingo

Plaza de la independecia from Venezuela street

La Basilica - we couldn't walk any more at this time