I’m back in Quito this week after spending an amazing week in the Galápagos, and as you may have seen from my previous Quito post I wasn’t a fan of the city when I first arrived.
I’m happy to say that my opinion of Quito is changing. But the reason for this change of opinion is completely due to having a local, personal tour guide to show me around.
Quito is a massive city high up in the Andes mountains, and being a gringa coming into this crazy place not really speaking Spanish has been incredibly intimidating for me. But since returning from the Galápagos with a new Ecuadorean friend who knows Quito and is happy to show me around, I am loving my time here.
The Mercado Central for example, located right next door to my hostel in downtown Quito is awesome. For lunch you can buy fried fish with rice, potatoes, cerviche, popcorn and salsa for $6USD and it would easily feed two people, freshly made fruit juices are $1USD each. The market is a frenzy of local culture and I have been visiting twice a day.
The Mercado Central on Esmareldas is a fantastic cultural hub with amazing food.
Right now the city of Quito is crazy. The Pope is here, and today so is the President. On our walk through Old Town the President was making an appearance at the Presidential Palace in Plaza Grande. Neighborhoods were in lock-down, soldiers in dress uniform on horses were walking through the streets, marching bands were playing.
However a few days ago when I arrived in Quito we were faced with passionate protestors who were marching upon the same Plaza Grande protesting against the President. I asked my Ecuadorian friend Paco how this is possible? How do protestors who need riot police to control them suddenly not appear when the President is actually here standing on the balcony?
“Because,” Paco said, “the protestors have agreed not to show any violence or uprising while the Pope is here.” Perfect timing by a controversial President to appear in front of the people.
The protests last week outside the hotel. Riot police were lining the streets.
Today the President is here and the streets are calm.
The Pope’s visit here is a very big deal. It’s been 30 years since a Pope has visited Ecuador and people are excited to see him. So much so that the local policía are shutting down streets across the city hours in advance of his arrival. Millions of people are expected to come onto the streets to catch a glimpse of the popular Pontiff as he moves through the country. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t defeat the Pope – let me tell you the story.
Last night we decided to go to the movies. Paco has not been happy with my negativity of Quito and has made it his personal mission to increase my love of the city. So last night he decided to take me to the movies. Hopping on a bus completely packed with people, jumping off at a random stop who’s name I didn’t even see and then walking a kilometer or so through the streets was great. Braving a bus is not something that I would have done by myself here, but having Paco with me made everything easy and comfortable.
The movie cinema was in the middle of a ‘commercial’ area. Huge shopping malls with Tiffany’s and Bvlgari stores, food courts and paved, well lit boulevards filled with tourists made me feel very comfortable and happy. Of course according to Paco I’m a gringa and this is my type of area, so I should be happy.
I’m desperate to see the new Jurassic Park. Unfortunately the cinema that we went to was only showing it in spanish not english – no bueno. Luckily the new Terminator movie was playing in english, so disappointed as I was, Arnie was a suitable substitute to dinosaurs. Buying our tickets ahead of time Paco and I went to wander the malls, eat some delicious food court dinner (yes actually delicious, they make everything here fresh to order).
Food court pasta made fresh to order.
As we sat eating dinner, sharing stories about our travels, Paco tells me about a friend of his that he did some training with and the funny things that happened. Fast forward a couple of hours and we begin our walk to the cinema for our 9:20pm movie session and we suddenly bump into Paco’s friend that he had just been telling me about. Quito is so large that this is a crazy meeting. Not knowing each other were going to be in the city, let alone at the same movie complex at the same time was crazy. Crazier still is that both Paco and his friend have the same job, and the way Paco and I met was exactly the same as how Paco’s friend and the woman he was with met. World’s collided. Ecuadorians exploded with happiness 🙂
Funnier still was that these new friends were going to also see The Terminator in english, but broke the news to us that all sessions had been cancelled due to the Pope arriving in the city. Whaaaat!!!!!!
Unfortunately this was true, all sessions were cancelled, the cinema was being completely closed down because anyone in the area after 10pm would not be able to travel the 5km or so back to the Old Town side. City in lock-down – Pope wins, Arnie loses.
La Rhonda salsa club
So that has been my few days back in Quito. We visited La Rhonda Saturday night and found an awesome salsa club. Again I was the only gringa in the whole place and it was amazing. Paco loves music, especially salsa. So being with someone who has such a passion for the activities and culture of his country is allowing me to relax and love it to.
I’m hoping to get out of the city though and explore the surrounding areas. I have been told that Mindo, Otavalo and Banos are all amazing, so hopefully the rest of this week will be spent exploring outside of Quito as well.
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