January 27th, 2006

ECUADOR
Arrived in Quito yesterday, after a very long day of travel. Not that there was anything wrong with the flights – actually, it was completely problem free – just that it was a long day. We even took some of out 6-hour layover in Miami to stop at Erica’s house, get lunch out of the airport, and drive around Miami for a bit. It passed the time. On arrival to Quito there was only one person there to greet us – a relief considering both the hostel and Zenith Travel wanted to send someone to greet us. Sadly, though, Zenith Travel could not tell us what time the flight was going to leave on Saturday. A bit frustrating at this point. The hostel, “Posada del Maple” is very nice. And Erica and I have the room to ourselves!
Today we got up in time to grab a banana from the breakfast table as it was being cleared, and then headed into the “old town” or “centro historico.” We went via bus, which cost $0.25 and got us right where we wanted to be… unfortunately, at some bad advice, we stayed on the bus for one more stop, which meant a longer up-hill walk to where we were going. The bus stops aren’t really labeled or announced. Walking around the historic city, we stopped at several somewhat random places. “Casa Sucre” was the first – a museum that had filled the neat colonial-style house with period furniture, paintings of official looking men, and various displays on a war that we knew nothing about. Next was Cathedral San Francisco – mostly to get inside a building after some sketchy American asked us for money. While waiting for our eyes to adjust to the dark so that we could see the gold-covered walls and ceilings, Mass started. We took a quick peak at the back of the Cathedral and headed out. Next coffee at some chain place (a slightly more up-scale fast food – they had real dishes). Then we actually found the entrance to the “Centro Cultura” that we had been looking for earlier. It turned out to be mostly a large library in an interesting building. There was a museum that we elected not to go into, and several small galleries. One was full of black and white made-up clowns doing silly things in the middle of the street. Another room had large black and white dotted canvases forming pictures of people. Across the room were the sketches that the painting came from. There were also 2 large photographs – one said it was digitally altered, the other just said “photograph.” That other one was of a guy standing on a balcony that overlooked NYC with a plane flying below him. The digital date at the bottom: 09-11-01.
After lunch, a siesta, and finally figuring out what time we were leaving tomorrow morning, we grabbed a bus to “El Mitad del Mundo” – The Middle of the World. The bus was actually two busses and took about twice as long as the guidebook claimed it would. But we got there and it wasn’t very crowded. The monument was neat, but I think we were both more impressed by the mountains and the clouds moving across them basically at eye level. Inside the monument there was an extensive museum on the various Ecuadorian peoples. It was interesting, though too much similar information to take in all at once. The small “village” of shops and cafes at the foot was closing when we left, so we grabbed a quick bite and got back on the bus. The return ride was uneventful, though we spent significant periods not knowing where we were and hoping we’d recognize our stops. Worked out fine. Now, after dinner, it’s off to an early and sleepy bed.