Southern Exposure

Thursday, January 29

Finally, after being in Quito for two and a half days running errands and scheduling our Galapagos tour we had a full day to enjoy some sightseeing. We were mainly interested in visiting the Centro Historico, which features colonial architecture the Spanish constructed over the remains of the Inca city.

We had a quick breakfast at the hostel and rolled out around 10 am. Matt was not feeling well – his minor cough from the Galapagos developed into a full on flu.

We decided to visit the National Museum first, which our Viva Guide advertised as a must see. We got a cab and told him to take us to “Museo Nacional.” The driver looked confused, so I repeated the full name of the museum as was written in our guide book – “Museo Nacional del Banco Central del Ecuador.” It should have been a five-minute ride, but the route he chose seemed incorrect to us, and we only realized that he dropped us off at the actual Banco Central del Ecuador after we let the cab go. We decided to ask another cab for directions to the museum, and he pointed to the same bank building. We went inside and were told the museum was at another location. Baffled at the ignorance of some local taxi dirvers, we continued on for more cab drama. This time the driver wanted triple of what it actually cost to get us to the museum and refused to turn on the meter, getting all mad about it. We got out and got another cab, only this time we were stuck in traffic for longer than we were moving. We finally decided to walk and got there in 10 minutes.

The museum was definitely worth the visit, though the impressive “gold exhibit” was under construction, and both of us felt completely faint towards the end. Matt feeling under the weather and I must have been under the influence of high altitude. The exhibits were well organized, from fascinating ancient artifacts to contemporary paintings, and we spent about two hours wondering around the museum learning about Ecuador’s history and culture.

After the museum we headed to the historical district. We stopped for a quick lunch and much needed cup of java, before our tour of the numerous plazas and cathedrals.

On one of the plazas, we were approached by a local artist who was selling his paintings that were quite good. We saw similar style paintings in one of the tourist shops for $200 each and he was selling them for $20-$40. I had to buy one for my art collection, and after some bargaining ended up with two pieces for $52.

We then stopped by a hat store where I purchased a black felt hat with a little feather – the fashion staple of all Ecuadorian women (and men).

Matt didn’t have much energy left it him, so we headed to the last stop on our tour La Basilica del Voto Nacional, a striking church that stands on a steep hill to the northeast of Centro Historico. As we were walking to the church, dark grey clouds covered the sky and it started raining heavily.

At the church, we climbed up the tower that offered several vantage points along the way. At the very top we were rewarded with excellent views of the city – if only it was a clear day. It cleared up slightly towards the end, so I was able to snap a few worthy pictures of Quito stretching over old and new parts of the city. We had a quick snack at the “sky cafe” and headed home for some rest.

By the time we got to the hostel it was already 6 pm. I ran out to get pizza to go and we concluded the day by watching Dexter and eating pizza in bed.