Day 3: QUITO: SUNDAY IN THE BIG CITY

The trip up to Quito from Riobamba was nice and easy. Yet another gorgeous day with clear blue skies, we easily got glimpses of every magnificent volcano along the way. 

One thing’s for sure - the invention of the GPS sweetened the trip. The PanAmerican highway is pretty direct, but Quito is no little city. Trying to find the Hotel Vieja Cuba we’d booked would probably have been a nightmare without it. I’m convinced that little invention saves wear and tear on a relationship. Gratitude comes to mind on that one!

So we slid right into the city and the Vieja Cuba (Old Cuba) with complete ease. From the outside it looked adorable, and inside it definitely didn’t disappoint. I loved checking out every little charming detail - each contributed in its own way to a warm, understated old-world spanish feel. Very cool. Our rooms were homey, too, providing a perfect respite from the big city outside.

Starved, we headed across the street to what is clearly a favorite local seafood restaurant. It was filled with Ecuadorian families - a sure sign of great eating. Our dishes were really terrific and the prices super reasonable. What more could we want on a leisurely Sunday?

Our next destination was to hit the Old Centro, so we hopped into a taxi. We were dropped off at the Basilica del Voto, an impressive cathedral Jeff and I had seen on our first trip there and wanted to share with Joe and Cindy. We toured around for a while, and then the guys just had to climb up the clock tower. Meanwhile, Cindy and I did our girlie thing and went up to an upper level tea room with a fabulous view of the city. Great choices that made us all happy!

Traveling can wipe you out, but we wanted to take advantage of what little rest of the afternoon we had to get down into the Centro Park. So we meandered the narrow, sloping streets of Quito and got to step back in time. Spanish-style windows popped with bright red and pink geraniums; indigenous and hispanic families strolled in their Sunday best, and giggling children ran to keep up with their parents. This is Sunday in Ecuador, when in general most families take the time to savor and enjoy the day together. The city streets are peaceful, and so seem they.

The Parque Central stands surrounded by proud, well-maintained spanish colonial buildings. It was jammed with people, and there seemed to be several side shows going on at once to entertain. The biggest crowd surrounded a small acting group putting on a comedic skit. The next was a spirited political activist presentation apparently seeking to draw people in to sign on. I noticed that one of the tenets on their poster board was “Let’s not allow ourselves to become little North Americans.” Hear, Hear! I thought.  Around the corner was a religious town crier calling all sinners to repent. Ah, the freedom of democracy and free speech!

Sufficiently exhausted, we moved on back to the hotel. A lovely older gentleman was our taxi driver who seemed oh, so sweet - but took us for a Gringo fare. $6.00!!, we cried. The funny thing is that none of us are greenhorn tourists and knew we should have paid him the true value of $3 or $4, and yet we didn’t. Not one of us fought it. Silly, silly us!

Dinner was served at the hotel, so we decided to eat there and crash. It was amusing to get a menu full of Italian choices in this hotel called Old Cuba, but hey, who was going to question it? And although it took an incredibly long time and many glasses of wine later, the dishes were absolutely fantastic. Who knew?

Time for bed - we had Immigration to go to in the morning. We were dying to find out what was going on with Joe and Cindy’s residency visas. Big Day ahead!