4 Hours With the Spang-sta!

View from Hotel Quito
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We’re in Quito!

The non stop flight from Miami, where Meg and I met would have been amazingly easy if we hadn’t had a Hispanic dude behind us, hat sideways, ear phones on, who rapped and sang OUT LOUD for 4 hours! This guy had absolutely NO filter. I think I would have rather listened to a crying baby…I named him the “Spang-sta”! We didn’t have the heart to embarrass him in front of his family, but we did consider poking ourselves in the eye with a sharp stick to give us something else to concentrate on!

...if we hadn't had a Hispanic dude behind us...who rapped out loud for 4 hours!

Gaily painted house
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Ecuador is in the same time zone as the Midwest, so there isn’t a big time change adjustment. Nonetheless, we had to get up at the crack of dawn to make our connections, so we were tired by the time we made our approach into Quito at 8:45 PM. Our view out the window changed from a big black void to a thin expanse of sparkling city lights that climbed the mountainsides surrounding Quito. The city is long and narrow, stretching out in a valley between mountains, and our approach took us right in between the peaks! Imagine seeing lights, buildings, lights, streets, lights…and then you land. I wasn’t sure we weren’t setting down on some local highway!

Meg's omelet pizza
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Immigration took about an hour, in which we avoided the “Spang-sta”, who continued to annoy the people surrounding him. Most of the travelers had backpacks with camping equipment and climbing gear; one guy pushed an oblong bag with a tent in it through the entire immigration maze (I christened it “bag-0-tent”). We were met by a Brit from our tour group who apologized if he smelled like beer (I didn’t notice, but if I’d been meeting flights all day, I would probably have had a beer or six too!) and directed us to our ride to Hotel Quito. I was so glad I didn’t have to negotiate a taxi in Spanish…yet!

Meg on the square
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Hotel Quito is a nice business class hotel on the edge of New Town (as Meg pointed out, the style is very 70’s…decorative painted cinder blocks inside arches on the outside, but the expected shag carpeting has been replaced! ) with a spectacular view of the city and the mountainsides, rising like Diamondback in Hawaii… flat on top with sharply steep slopes. The mountains are lushly forested with palm and other tropical trees, dotted with lime green terraced fields and precariously perched houses. We have a garden with sculpted bushes and flower lined pathways outside our window. Of course we didn’t see any of that until this morning! I only woke up once to the sound of some heavy partying going on outside, and Meg said she only heard some dogs barking, but basically we both slept like babies. Quito is at 10,000 feet, so altitude can be an issue…Meg had a little “hangover” feeling when she woke up, but I was fine (after living at 6000 feet in Colorado).

Man with the coconut hat
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We slept in and wandered a few blocks to the area with shops and restaurants. We brought sturdy walking shoes, but the weather was so much warmer than we expected, we threw on sandals for our walk…maybe a mistake. The sidewalks weren’t in the greatest condition, and we had to side step down one main street that was being completely redone…piles of sand, brick and cobblestones, the workers leveling the entire street with a two by four! Not the easiest and most efficient method, in my opinion. The architecture is a mix of lovely Spanish colonial with a European touch, gaily painted plaster homes turned business/restaurant, eclectic high rises that would rival any modern city, and the occasional prerequisite half finished cinder block building with exposed rebar.

Meg drinking "mora"- blackberry juice
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Most of the businesses and shops that we passed were closed, but we found a charming paved square with a fountain just off Avenue Reina Victoria with several outdoor cafés and a craft market under white tents. “Foccacio” was serving late breakfast and the outside tables were shaded by a huge flowering tree. I tried the guanabana juice (guava and banana?) and Meg ordered the blackberry juice and an omelet on a pizza crust called a pizzallete- a strange combination! I had huevos fritos (fried eggs) and tocino (bacon), but the eggs were so fresh, and the meat was served in little diced squares like ham, but tasted like bacon, so it really didn’t taste like a breakfast from home. The coffee was strong and delicious (I love this place already!). As my friends know, I hate weak, watery coffee, which is usually a challenge I have to deal with when I travel. This coffee was so good, it almost didn’t need leche (I said almost!). Everyone is so friendly here…Meg and I haven’t used our Spanish for awhile, but we really understood a lot of what was being said by peoples’ actions and motions. We just kept nodding our head in agreement, and so far we’re doing fine!

indigenous vendor
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So here we are eating breakfast in Quito … a wonderful soft breeze blowing, green mountains on the horizon, little boys playing in the fountain-filling their water glasses and then throwing it at each other- tiny women with babies strapped to their backs selling sunglasses or gum, boys with shoe shine kits approaching our table…this made us laugh because we both had flip flops on, but didn’t seem to deter them one little bit…. The crafts displayed under the tent were handcrafted, unique and lovely; carved wooden pieces, delicately painted- little pairs of shoes and horses, beautiful silver jewelry with colored stones or leather on chokers, suede bags and purses and glassware. One vendor was so interesting, obviously indigenous and maybe from the Amazon? He had tattooed lines across his face, a red cape wrapped around his bare shoulders, ornate necklaces and his head was topped with a little piece of coconut shell dyed red for a hat! I didn’t want to be rude and take his picture up close, so I tried to be discrete and took some pictures from my table. Thank you, 12x zoom!

kids at the fountain
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Today was suppose to be an adjustment day for us, so we window shopped a little and headed back to our hotel for some relaxation. I took a picture for you, Shawna…a tee shirt that said “there is no Heart Rock Café in Ecuador”…(spelling aside, Heart Rock instead of Hard Rock, we thought of you!! We wanted to stop at the Museo Amazonico where they have feather headdresses and real shrunken heads, but it was closed. Fortunately we’ll be back in Quito for a couple days at the end of our trip, so we won’t miss it…oh God, I hope they have key chains! Our hotel has a pool and a spa, and this morning someone was getting married there…There is also a casino attached to the hotel, so we may have to try our hand at blackjack tonight, and on the 7th floor is a restaurant and bar with reportedly the best nighttime view of Quito , and we have complimentary drink tickets we need to spend.

woman with baby on her back
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Tomorrow we head to Cotocachie with our group for a week at El Meson at the base of a volcano. Adios!