next day we woke up really early. I did not sleep well as I had issues with the altitude. I had a short breath and could not sleep well. After a short 6 hours sleep, I was awake at 7 am and so was the rest of my little travel party. We had breakfast at the hotel, no all you can eat but a sandwich with melted cheese, eggs, coffee, hot milk and some fruits. We were moving really relaxed. No hurries at all. We showered and did everything very slowly. Sometime late morning we took off into town. We just started walking through Magistral district which is full of fun stuff (the night fun stuff, bars, and drinking establishments). We just walked for quite a long time, until, we stopped at a small park te rest next to a fountain. We got hungry and had lunch in a colonial style hotel nearby. we were the only guest and had lunch for only USD 4 per person.
We already started to draw attention to us. I am quite tall and Tanja as well for a woman. Anais has sparkling blue eyes that are hypnotizing. Plus we bought this mountain buggy for our trip which is quite a vehicle. After lunch, we caught a taxi. There was a bit of discussion between us as Tanja wanted to walk but I was too tired and short breathed. Tanja can cope much better with altitude than me. The taxi ride to the Cathedral was nice. We saw quite a bit of the town, from old restored colonial buildings to new office buildings and places where construction was taking place and construction was due to take place. Quito is an interesting city to breathe in. The taxi driver was quite a character and his taxi as well. In general, the taxi drivers we had were an experience for the drivers and for us. This particular taxi driver had Jesus chains all over the taxi and was under the tattoos. He was very friendly but looked like he was from a Jesus gang.
He dropped us right in front of the cathedral. I was under the impression of the cathedral but for people who have been to Rome, it is just another huge gothic cathedral. People in Quito are 99% catholic and many people go there to light candles and worship their favorite saint. We bought 8 candles and we lit candles for everybody special in our life at the cathedral. Let them all stay healthy and happy.
We then walked towards the historic center and after a while we came across a bar with live music. There was this skinny guy with karaoke machine singing Spanish songs. Anais really like music and we decided to have a sit down there. It is a cafe in a narrow street somewhere in the historic center, a bit run down cheap place were some African decent folks cook awesome stews. The place was packed. We ordered a stew and it was the best fish stew I had in a very long time. After the first skinny Spanish singer-songwriter (all dressed in black with a karaoke machine hanging around his neck), left a different guy came in who was playing pan flute and guitar and singing at the same time. He was ok but not great, Anais like him anyways. I gave her her rammelaar to play along and she loved it.
The place was run by some really slow people and many locals and they were quite slow but the good food compensated and Tanja went across the street to arrange some tours for us. We really loved the food.
After this, we went towards the main square at the historic center. Walking there with a stroller was quite a challenge as the pavements were too small for the stroller. We have bought this awesome mountain buggy and the efforts of bringing it along paid off just not this time. The roads in the historic center of Quito a narrow and cars are driving really close to the sidewalks.
All over Quito you find those strange shops that sell a variety of goods. Small, narrow stores and their assortment seems to be put together without any logic. In the historic center you find stores selling beds only next to stores selling toilets next to stores selling a variety of electronic goods that seem ancient to us from Amsterdam. The variety of stores and owners and the age of goods have disappeared completely in Holland. You can just imagine how it has been maybe 50 years ago in Amsterdam. I hope what happened in Amsterdam and all over Holland will never happen in Ecuador. It makes the city so alive, it seems like everybody is making a living selling something, even so, trivial as screws of all varieties or maybe you need a specific fitting? Quito sure has a store for it somewhere. I do hope the large international chains
We entered a small gate and we entered some “central commercial” and had drink in right on the patio. It was filled with families having late lunch and groups of elderly man just having a few beers. It seemed like we ended up in a movie setting. The patio was half occupied by a restaurant and half a art shop. Also people were selling along the halls all different stuff. We bought some cheap perfumes which were labeled conveniently after the big commercial brands.
We left the centre commercial on the other side and were at the grand plaza. All kind of people were just sitting there chilling in the center and again many people were trying to sell stuff. From food, to hats, to baskets – you name it and someone was selling it on the streets. We went walking along the main shopping street which is quite what you expect when i call it a shopping street. There were all kind of “flying merchants” walking around and people trying to lure you into the shops on the side. We ended up buying some nice things like some dresses for Anais, socks and other small things we needed. It was an amazing experience as the place was packed – sort of overcrowded. people were selling especially stuff for new years eve.
New years eve is just a short 24 hours away and in Quito or Ecuador, the tradition is that men dress up as women and ask other men for the change. So people were trying to sell a lot of wigs but also dresses for children and of course, lots of food was being offered by street vendors.
I must say it was an amazing experience. I am quite tall and I was the tallest guy on the streets. I could oversee it. What amazed me is that there were no old men around, those were sitting at the grand plaza. Young families and especially indigenous old women selling fresh cut fruits were around. We even attempted to enter a shopping mall but we quickly abandoned the mission as the hallways were too narrow for the stroller.
We had drinks finally at a bar at another place and decided to have dinner as well there. The dinner was again excellent and the service fantastic. It was kind of It took us a while to catch a taxi and we never understood the system of taxi drivers saying they are not able to take us as we were heading in the wrong direction. Apparently, they only take you if you destination is in their driving direction. we finally found a taxi and guess what, Anais decided it was time for another diarrhea. We felt really sorry for the taxi driver….