Three days in Quito

I arrived at my hostel at my hostel in Quito after a long journey from Ipiales. Quito was a place I'd heard mixed things about, but I was excited to make up my own opinion. Regardless it was exciting to be in a new country, and even though I was tired from travelling all day I couldn't wait to start exploring.

My first night in Quito a few guys that worked at my hostel invited those who wanted to go up and see the Virgin of Quito at El Panecillo after dark. I jumped at the opportunity as I knew I would never go up there after dark on my own. We took a taxi up there and were rewarded with a great, panoramic view of the city. It was great going up there with locals, as they could tell us things about Quito that we wouldn't have heard if we were going there by ourselves. When visiting El Panecillo, no matter what time of the day, it is always recommended to take a taxi as the road up there is known for robberies, especially of gringos. After admiring the view for a while we were introduced to a local drink called Canelazo, made of aguardiente, sugar cane and agua de canela (water boiled with cinnamon). Not too bad, and the quite decent amount of aguardiente warmed us up in the otherwise chilly evening. We then visited a pub in El Foch, where we played football games, ate and drank, but while the others continued on to a club to go dancing, I decided to call it a night. It had been such a long day, and I was completely finished.

Since I really enjoyed the free walking tours I'd been taking in Colombia, I decided to do one in Quito as well. It seemed like a good idea to get a certain overview of the city, and it really was. I made my way over to Community Hostel, and during the about three hour long tour through Quito's old town I learned a lot not only about Quito, but about Ecuador as well. I constantly find myself realising how little I know about South America, and then I feel really grateful for having this opportunity to learn. I'll definitely be doing more walking tours in the future.

When the tour ended, the same hostel offered transport to Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the world, and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to get this checked off my list. I payed 10 USD and that only included the transport, so this can obviously be done a lot cheaper if you go on your own. I still found the door-to-door transport convenient and it was also nice going there with a little group. The place itself is quite random. We paid about 4 USD for a guided tour of the actual middle of the world, and the first thing our guide said to us was "I'm now gonna tell you how the indigenous people used to shrink sculls". No introduction needed there. We couldn't help but laugh as we were expecting the tour to be about the equator line, but he also got to that eventually. We then got to try to balance eggs on a nail and walk on the equator line with our eyes shut, both difficult tasks, and obviously take a few photos with the "latitude 000" monument. It just had to be done. When finished at the actual middle of the world we moved on to what used to be known as equator before they had technology good enough to identify the right place. It costs about 3 USD to enter here, only to see a much bigger monument which isn't even on the equator. As we had already visited the actual one none of us bothered to pay, but we snapped a few photos from outside the fence before returning to the car to make the one hour drive back to Quito.

The morning after I woke up around 6:30, super excited to do one of the things I was the most excited about doing in Ecuador; I was climbing the Cotopaxi volcano. Although slightly curious about how I would deal with the altitude of almost 5000 meters above sea level, I decided that the past week should have gotten me sufficiently acclimatised and figured that I'd be fine. I went with a company called Ecuatravel and booked the tour through my hostel for 55 USD. This included the bus ride back and forth, a bilingual guide, breakfast and lunch, plus mountain bikes and helmets to make the ride down the volcano a bit more interesting. Once I got on the bus I discovered that most of our group were in their 60s, and quickly decided that I needed to make it to the top no matter what. In my group were also a couple of guys with whom I'd done the walking tour the day before, and it's always nice with familiar faces when travelling by yourself. On our way to Cotopaxi we made multiple stops, to have breakfast, gradually get used to the altitude, stock up on snacks and coca leaves, also because of the altitude, and so we could use the toilet. Eventually we made it to 4600 meters above sea level, which is where we got out and started the climb from. We were advised to walk slowly, take deep breaths and listen to our bodies. I had expected to feel a slight headache, which I luckily didn't, but it was weird feeling how quickly the altitude made you run out of breath while climbing. Once I found a steady pace and a good rhythm for my breath, the altitude stopped bothering me. I brought out my inner mountain goat and pulled my group of about six people towards the top, being the first of us to make it to the highest point you are currently allowed to climb. I'll admit that I felt a little bit proud about that. As the volcano is active and had its last eruption only two years ago, a refugee at 4864 meters above sea level marks the end point for adventurous climbers like us. Unfortunately we were up there on a foggy day, so the sights weren't great, but we still got some celebratory pictures taken. We then chilled at the cafe in the refugee for a while, and for the second time in the same amount of days I cursed myself for not bringing my passport along. Both on Cotopaxi and Mitad del Mundo it is possible to get your passport stamped and I missed out on both. Not the end of the world, but they still would have been cool additions to my passport stamp collection. When feeling sufficiently restored, we ran back down to the bus to start the mountain biking. We were each given a bike and a helmet, and some quick instructions before we set off down the volcano. Having no experience with mountain biking and not having biked in god knows how long, it is safe to say that I found the first kilometres challenging, but eventually I learned to trust the bike, and while my hands were pounding from clutching the breaks, I actually started enjoying myself. We finished the ride by a beautiful lake and were happy to find that we all made it down safely. We got back to the bus, made a stop for lunch and then got on the road back to Quito. I returned to my hostel tired, but content. This was easily one of the best days of my trip so far.

Quito might have been the first city on my trip where I actually had a list of things I wanted to do. With only one activity left on this list, I decided that my third day in Quito would also be my last. I was eager to start my hike of the Quilotoa Loop and therefore wanted to make it to Latacunga that day, but I couldn't leave before taking a ride on the teleferico. I got a taxi to the teleferico for 3.50 USD, and was surprised to find the place completely empty. I bought a return ticket for 8,50 USD and happily entered the wagon I got all to myself. The ride up was great, with excellent views of the city. I spent a good hour admiring Quito from all angles before heading back down. It is also possible to do a five hour hike from the top of the teleferico, and if I hadn't been leaving Quito that day I probably would have gone for the hike. Instead I got back to my hostel, had some cereal for lunch and got on the trolebus headed for the bus terminal. The C4 bus takes you to the Terminal Quitumbe (in the south) for 0,25 USD, which makes it a cheap alternative to a 10 USD cab ride, and it doesn't even take that much longer. Once at the bus terminal I bought a ticket for the 1 hour bus ride to Latacunga, and left Quito about five minutes later.

I feel like I could easily have spent more time in Quito, as I've seen far from everything. I only spent time in the old city, although I can't really say that regret that. After only a short time I found it easy to find my way around and I quite enjoyed just walking the streets of Quito. More than anything it was the activities that really made my time in Quito. Before I got there I'd read that a lot of people only use Quito as a hub for onward travel, but I definitely think it is worth spending a few nights there as well. For me my stay made for a great welcome to Ecuador and made made me excited for my upcoming weeks in the country.

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♥ Erica