Quito with Open Eyes

Desayunamos. We ate breakfast. $2.50 for 2 people is pretty good. We had drinks, coffee de leche, cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs. Not a bad little breakfast before a lot of hiking at high altitudes.

We also picked up a Dictionary to go with our newspapers, as noted in the picture.


We hiked up to Parque de Itchimbía, home of schools with playgrounds and a walking circuit that overlooks much of Quito. Need I say more to prove that we had a good time? The playgrounds have rings, which would be more accessible if they were higher above the ground. I think playgrounds should be built with all ages in mind! Still, we had fun, and enjoyed sitting on one of three benches, of which one was captured in our panoramic foto.

We left the park and headed towards the new city. Quito has an old city and a new city. We have paraded around the old long enough so we take a different route exiting the park. Many cobbled side streets lead us to the main streets. We hike up and up again and find another playground, this one with an entire circle of monkey bars that I hang and swing around on for a while. As does Alisa! But soon it is time for lunch, bathroom, and a bit of a rest before more entertainment. So we hike down these less populated streets.

And as we are looking at a menu from the sidewalk for almuerzo (lunch), someone knocks on a taxi window from the passenger's seat and first salutes me. I don't salute back but I smile and give a small wave since he's a mere two feet from me. The assumedly local man waves me on to this restaurant that we are considering, so we give it a shot. Two soups, one which was better and had cheese precede the common meat and rice dish. What is not so common here is the juice, which is decadent. We gulp it down as green gelatin is handed to us in small bowls. Que contraste! (What a contrast!)

Now we trek back towards the hostel to research the next few days of our trip and by doing so we gain some non-walking time - to rest. But, as you guessed - you did guess, didn't you? - we hit the town again.

The new city it is for us, before it gets dark. We look and ask directions many times for Plaza Foch, the answers changing each time. Finally we make it there and look for non-touristy, cheap places that are still open for dinner. It's only 5:30pm or so but darkness comes early and dinner ends even sooner. We settle on a Mexican food place that turned out to have a second-story view of a nighttime intersection in Quito Nueva, but not great food. Especially, that is because of the high price we paid! Once out of dinner, we grab a taxi back to the hostel, since it's dark and walking is definitely not the safest option. Check back later for a picture of our dinner, where the highlight was the juice beverage we shared.

Tomorrow we will hit Otavalo, Ecuador. We have perhaps finalized our decision not to go to Colombia. We were ever so tempted and had even planned our trip out. However, with expenses looming larger on Colombia's side of the ecuator - or Ecuador, and a non-backtracking return trip meaning either a costly plane ticket or a roundabout-the-Amazon Brazil trip seeming ever so out of the way...Yeah. Maybe later. But Cartagena, Armenia, Popayán, et cetera all sound wonderful!

"Buen Provecho!" - n8