Activity Summary
Sunday 27th August - Day 327 (continued)
Flight to Quito
Taxi through hostel pickup
Hostel rooftop bar & restaurant
Monday 28th August - Day 328
Breakfast at the rooftop bar
Hostel arranged walking tour of Quito
La Basílica
Parque Gabriel García Moreno
Street viewpoint of the Virgin of the Panecillo
Indigenous art gallery
Confession booth thing
Local ice cream and caca de perro treats
Plaza Grande / independence square
Local hotel viewpoint
Centro Cultural Metropolitano
Church of the Society of Jesus
Penis angel
Plaza de San Francisco
Yumbos Chocolate
Lunch at cheap menu del dia place
Dinner & drinks at rooftop bar
Tuesday 29th August - Day 329
Breakfast at the rooftop bar
Lunch at Atavico Cafe
Free cash withdrawals: Banco Internacional
Mitad del Mundo/ Centre of the world tour
Middle of the World City
Intiñan Site Museum
Wednesday 30th August - Day 330
Travel to Secret Garden, Cotopaxi
Summary
Quito
It was so nice to come to a city we actually liked. The central part of the city was nice, helped by the great walking tour guide we had.
The centre of the world tour was good fun also.
It was a great temperature in the city which stands at 2,800m. Sunny during the day but not roasting and nice and cool in the evening which we actually liked.
The Secret Garden Hostel absolutely made the trip though. Such a great place to stay and couldn’t recommend it more. We spent a lot of our time chilling here rather than doing masses of things in Quito but this worked for us.
Transport
Quito
Flight from San Cristobal, Galapagos, to Quito
Booked a $28 private taxi with the hostel. Dude showed up on time with the clear sign and everything was super easy
Long 50 minute drive from the airport to the hostel
Accommodation
Quito - Secret Garden Hostel
Number of nights - 3
Price per night per person - £18
Positives:
Great place
The rooftop bar and restaurant have outstanding views over Quito and the mountains
Super social place that was easy to meet people
Food was half price to guests
Happy hour 6pm-7pm
Good offerings of tours
Great walking tour
Comfortable rooms. No need for AC
Two single beds
Free filter water taps
Negatives:
Food was spenny and a bit meh
More expensive than other places but it was worth every penny
Shared bathrooms but there were plenty knocking around
Not exactly warm showers which was quite unpleasant in a cool breezy place
Recommend?
A great place and so happy for the suggestion. Thanks Vickers!
Diary
Sunday 27th August - Day 327 (continued)
The exit from Quito airport was refreshingly smooth. Through the Secret Garden Quito Hostel we had arranged a taxi pickup for when we had landed. For the first time on our trip the guy was waiting there with the hostel sign, clear as day. Absolute dream. The old man seemed super nice but the language barrier meant we didn’t interact much with him on the drive to Quito.
For $28 and a fair drive of 50 minutes we were happy. Quito airport is surrounded by some incredible views of the mountains and with the sunshine Luke was in such a good mood.
Check in at the hostel is slightly convoluted, registering at the tour office on the ground floor to then ascend 3 floors to the actual office and then back down to grab our big bags before our room. We would then be told about the half price food for guests, happy hour process and breakfast, all of which were super confusing until put into practice. The logistics of this place could do with a bit of a streamline but somehow it worked.
Luke had booked this hostel on the recommendation of his friends Vicky and Andrew who had travelled Ecuador a few months prior. What a great suggestion it was and on the basis of that we had only a few plans of things to do in Quito outside of hostel chilling.
We spent the late afternoon/evening taking in the most amazing view over Quito and the surrounding mountains from the rooftop bar.
The food at the hostel was ok but l the 50% off, views and sheer ease of service was what kept drawing us back there. Mainly the 50% off however. The happy hour from 6-7 was put to good use by Luke, waiting for the hour and doubling down on two large beer bottles for $3.50. Not Colombia prices but still very reasonable and it was more beer than he’d had since being back home in the UK.
We were perfectly happy chilling here for a few hours and as we were just about to depart downstairs we had a less than pleasant interaction with, we assume, the manager of the restaurant who demanded the table from us. There were a ton of reserved signs in tables when we arrived and over time realised it was a popular spot for locals on a Sunday night but had picked a table away from the prime view (aka the non-smoking area) without such a reservation. The poor people who were taking the table from us were mortified but Luke said all was good after kicking back at the manager's approach. Not that she cared at all.
Nicola was pretty tired and Luke was keen to carry on planning our Carretera Austral route through Chilean Patagonia, the next big expensive ambition of his, so we retreated to our private room for the evening.
Monday 28th August - Day 328
Despite the bar being lively every night until 11pm it was actually pretty easy to sleep, the bar influencers making sure everything stopped at the cut off and then shepherding the rowdy lot on to another bar till the early hours of the morning.
Well rested, we had breakfast on the rooftop and were downstairs at 10am for the hostel arranged walking tour. Again, a whole lot of chaos ensued with people trying to get onto a bus to Cotopaxi and others joining the walking tour. A simple 30 minute spacing would solve all problems…
The tour around Quito was great. The tour guide was entertaining, interesting and we really liked the city.
La Basílica - Ecuador’s equivalent of the Notre Dame, but still standing, which our tour guide was keen to point out. We spent a good while walking around the cathedral but it was honestly one of the most entertaining religious buildings Luke had seen. The animals dotted around the building were amazing, each quarter of the Basilica showcasing animals from one of the four regions of Ecuador.
The Guinea pig, aka cuey, was probably our fave. The Basilica didn’t show the cute alive version but the dead, hollowed out and spit roasted version we had seen on the streets. Actually hilarious and poor Nicola couldn’t help pulling a sad face in memory of her Guinea pigs growing up, which of course made Luke laugh a lot.
Parque Gabriel García Moreno - nice park like area next to the Basilica
Nice street viewpoint of the Virgin of the Panecillo
Art gallery - Nicola volunteered to be the shrunken head detector when handed it blind. Naturally she had no idea what it was (replica only of course). There was some really interesting indigenous art throughout the building.
Confession booth thing - turns out religious families used to offer their daughters (if they had one or if more the youngest) to the convent of nuns, who never left the monastery. Now, thankfully, people just buy goods through the shutter doors which have decreased in size as they do not require the passage of humans through them.
Local ice cream and caca de perro treats - stopped off at a shopping hall type place for a sample of various local fruit ice cream and a fried sugary maize snack which translated to dog poop.
Plaza Grande / independence square - area of town that had all the important political buildings.
To see the square we got taken to a local fancy hotel that happened to have snipers on the roof due to a political meeting. Given the recent shootings of presidential candidates we could understand the security.
Centro Cultural Metropolitano - we stopped off in the square for what Luke was most interested in, being the political situation in Ecuador.
Luke had been fairly well read in recent events and when the group was asked questions about the current political environment and safety concerns, Luke was more than happy to be top nerd of the class and give his understanding of the recent overpowerment of Colombian, Mexican and Peruvian drug cartels on Ecuador, a country that was until recently known to be one of the safest countries in South America and as such was wholly unprepared for such an aggressive takeover.
More detail was provided on why this was so easy, a country that was in need of funding, a lack of US dollars coming into the country and the IMF not being a solution meant the country turned to a terrible deal for finance from the Chinese that as collateral put up the Galápagos Islands should the loan not be repaid in 70ish years. The money wasn’t even put to good use apparently.
Funding from cartels to recent presidents had turned the port cities of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas into unsafe places and a war for control was at the heart of the current presidential elections. Super interesting stuff.
Church of the Society of Jesus
Penis angel - opposite the church above were these angels with big ol dongs. There was more to the story but we couldn’t remember any of it.
Plaza de San Francisco
Yumbos Chocolate - most of the good walking tours we have done tended to have some sort of local try before you buy experience and this was no exception. The guide and the guys at Yumbos put on a pretty large chocolate tasting of 90%, 70% and 60% cacao chocolate with a whole variety of flavours (mint, cacao nibs, salted, coffee etc.) and explained how the Ecuadorian chocolate was the best in the world because of the yellow cacao pods being able to absorb up to 200 flavours from nearby plants, such as banana trees, and therefore being tastier but also mega expensive. The experience was really good value and we ended up buying a bar of 70% orange chocolate, surprised by how nice it was despite having such a high cacao concentration both of us wouldn’t go anywhere near it back home. The 90% was far too bitter but 70% hit the spot.
With the tour at its end, we went for lunch at a nearby cheap menu del dia place on the recommendation of our guide with Briel and Maria. It wasn’t amazing but for $2.50 it was alright. It does seem the menu del dia options are getting infinitely worse as we move away from Colombia.
The afternoon was going to be spent doing laundry at a self service place but on finding out the place opposite the hostel was 65c a pound (as opposed to $4 a kilo at the hostel) we couldn’t be bothered for the walk and took the easy option. Turns out we have 13 pounds / 6 kilos of washing when near enough full. This did mean we could chill in the hostel in the afternoon. Luke was told to collect at 6pm but on finding the place well and truly closed, gave up until the morning.
For the first time in what feels like forever, Nicola got her drank on. The 2-4-1 happy hour was put to good use, Mojitos and beer keeping us going until the rooftop bar closed at 11pm. We spent the evening with a fun group of people, Luke trying to get involved with the ‘free drink’ drinking game but both times never got remotely close to being punished.
It was a nice evening and the ponchos were great for keeping off the cold while looking jazzy AF.
Tuesday 29th August - Day 329
Breakfast was on the rooftop plus Luke running up and down the stairs trying to work out when the laundry place opposite would open. Two guys who were doing the same were in a little bit of bother given their bus was leaving at 10am but fortunately they’d managed to get in contact with the owners. The two old ladies in there were probably up there as being the most challenging people to communicate with in Spanish. Luke couldn’t understand a word they said and they didn’t make it any easier on him.
The rest of the morning we chilled in the hostel before getting some lunch down the road at Atavico Cafe. A bit expensive but the sandwiches were great and huge. The cafe was very quirky with our table resembling a converted loom type thing.
Prior to our afternoon activity we stopped at the nearby Banco International which allowed the all important free cash withdrawals.
At 2.15pm we met the group going to the Mitad del Mundo/ Centre of the world tour courtesy of the hostel. It was about an hour's drive to get to the first stop, being the Middle of the World City.
It was a bit of a frantic experience as we were only given 20 minutes to walk over to the moment before having to meet back at the bus. We were first in the queue for tickets that weirdly required passports and email addresses and therefore took ages to purchase, so we had more time than the others but it was by no means relaxing.
We posed for some pictures at the equator line with the incorrect monument to the centre of the world, where latitude is 0. GPS had determined this incorrect after the fact but it made for a nice tourist spot.
As we had a little more time we were able to make it to the top of the monument but not enough to take in anything from the museum display that ran up to the viewpoint.
Back at the bus we ended up leaving one of the girls behind because she was running late. The next spot was only around the corner and given we were about to do a group tour, it made no sense that we left her.
The real centre of the world, the Intiñan Site Museum, was an interesting experience. It was a guided tour through a small complex:
Chocolate tour - not overly exciting by trying / sucking on raw cacao seeds was interesting
A short tour through replica Ecuadorian indigenous homes and practices
Shrunken heads - here a real, 180 year old shrunken head was on display. The process of creating such a head was described, severing a head, effectively boiling the face and reconstructing with sealed lips to keep the soul / power of the head inside and with the wearer. Nice little neck decoration and for good measure there was a sloth next to Jeff for good measure.
Hit the real middle of the world spot
The end of the tour was a showcase of how water spirals down in different directions as a basic demonstration of the coriolis effect and the magnetism of the poles. Pretty entertaining to see how this differs from 5m apart versus straight down the drain on the equator.
There was also an egg balancing exercise on a nail plus walking along the equator but the queue for the former was painfully long so we didn’t participate.
Once back at the hostel we had dinner there and partook in zero sociable activities. Solo research and bed.
Wednesday 30th August - Day 330
Our bus to the sister hostel of our current one, Secret Garden Cotopaxi, was at 10am and for good reasons that will be explained in the next post Luke was running around like a headless chicken to ensure Nicola was as relaxed as possible.
Cash is still king here and on checking out and needing to fund Cotopaxi we required more dollar so Luke ended up running to the bank twice as he got there too early for its 9am open time. The road is very busy and polluted hence Luke’s solo journeys.
On payment for the Quito hostel Luke was baffled that the system worked. Everything up to this point had been checking some boxes on sheets of paper with name and room number and when breakfast items didn’t exist, handwriting these down. Minus a minor cock up on Luke’s part involving his first happy hour drinks, which they were more than happy to correct, everything was right. A simple IPad / EPOS system wouldn’t go amiss however.
At 10am we were loaded onto the van to Cotopaxi, sadly lacking any decent leg room but it wasn’t a completely terrible experience for the 2.5hr journey.
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