Quito
StevenWe spent four nights and three days visiting Quito, the capital of Ecuador. While in Quito we met up with Humberto's family, and were shown around by his father who is also named Humberto.
We visited old town and new town by ourselves. They are quite pretty and remind us more of Vancouver than of other Latin American cities. We strolled through many parks and browsed little markets of paintings and crafts. Cabs in Quito are somewhat difficult in that many of them do not know where anything is, one even couldn't help us after we provided the address. Luckily trams run through town down the major arteries and cost only $0.25.
We visited the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana where we toured their museum. Their collection of pre Columbian artifacts is impressive, while the remainder of their collection is underwhelming.
We very much enjoyed the Museo Guayasamin and the Capilla del Hombre, both of which are galleries of Oswaldo Guayasamin's art. The architecture of the Capilla del Hombre is wonderful, and we enjoyed Guayasamin's art. Both of these are on top of a hill north of downtown. Due to errors in reading the our tourist map, we got off the tram at the Canadian Embassy and walked the rest of the way to the Capilla del Hombre. This was about 3 km, with probably 300 meters of vertical, most of which came in the second half. Needless to say at 3 km altitude above sea level this walk took a lot out of us. We highly recommend taking a cab.
We also took the gondola up to the Teleferiqo, which is a simple lookout at 4100 m or about 1 km above the city. This was fantastic.
This looks amazingly beautiful! That vista, with the city in the valley and the mountains behind (hardly distinguishable from clouds) is overwhelming.
Glad to hear you guys had a great time!
Katherine mentioned that you might have to go back to Panama - I hope its not true.
Love you,
Karen
This looks so beautiful! Must also be nice to be somewhere warm again!
Love,
Sonya
hello everyone, it has been a long while, that wonderful holiday visit got me out of the habit of checking up on your travels. Interesting, surprising stuff. that mountain lookout does look cool temperature wise.
if that 4,100 m is for real, i would expect a slew ha ha of big telescopes up there. That is close to the 5,000 meters where our Andrew got into his big troubles at or near the basecamp of K2.
who is the Andrew on your pictures, for a moment ai thought our Andrew caught up with you. Who is the young lady, or does it matter?
bye the bye, Diesel is Diesel on your blog. Rudolph Diesel and all that. Are water lilies the same as lotus flowers? Picky , picky.
very many thanks
love
Dad
Hey Steven and Darusha - So glad you posted an All-OK after the tsunami. Also glad you guys made it to Quito - Mac and I were there in the 1970's and loved it. Liked the big berries called Moras, the spiral descent into the airport, and hiking (bushwhacking) up into the hills.
Hope you continue to have great adventures!