A Better View (or: How I Learned to Love Quito)

Tuesday morning I woke at 8am, took a nice long, warm shower, and headed into the dining area of the hostel for some breakfast and studying before class. I left about 20 mins early so I could check email at the internet cafe before walking to class. Should have left 30 minutes early. The excitement of communication from home was overwhelming and I ended up being late to class.

Class was painfull. Aside from being 10 minutes late when my teacher specifinally asked if we could do class early, I couldn"t seem to understand a single word she said. Seriously, four hours of me being stupid. I could see the frustration in her face starting at minute 8. This time during our break she suggested I take a walk to clear my head. I did. It didn"t help. It didn"t help matters that I kept checking my watch every three minutes.

When my seventh level of hell ended, I went back to the internet cafe for some much needed communication from home. Two grande beers later (is it the communication or the beer I needed?) I decided to go for a stroll around the city. The city really seemed drab. Everything advertised to the backpackers, there wasn"t anything really unique at all, and I began to wonder why there were so many backpackers making Quito a destination.

I eventually made my way back to the hostel as it began to rain and started working on my homework. When my room got stale I moved back to the dining room. I decided to take a break at one point and check the office to see if any rooms had opened up. Bingo. There were three cancelations. I could move into another private room with a private bath. For $2 mas. Feeling a bit better knowing I wouldn"t have to wake up really early to lug my bag to the empty hostel three blocks away, I went back to my work for a bit. At 7:30 I got a phone call at the bar. Who"s Mr Important at the $15-a-night hostel? It was one of the friends of my coworker"s girlfriend. She said she would be by at 8pm to pick me and take me site-seeing.

I packed up my work, threw on a long sleeve and waited at the front door. Who"s ready to get out of Gringoland?? My hostess for the night arrived at 8:15 with another friend and quickly ushered me into their car. We were on our way to the top of a very large hill (dare I say mountain?) in the center of the city. At the top was a grand statue of the Virgin Mary, all lit up for Halloween? The view from the top of the hill was amazing. Walking around the top I could see the entire city. Perfect chance to take photos right? Well, I dropped my camera not once, but twice, about an hour before when I was getting dressed. Now it refused to work. Of course. The three of us poked and prodded it for 5 minutes before declaring it useless.


As we walked around the hill for more views, I started shaking the camera for the heck of it. 3 minutes later it was working like a charm. And thus, your photo of the Virgin (though slightly blurry). Every pic I took of the city from the top of that hill turned out blury, so that"s all I have to offer. I saw an area of the city where there were several churches within a few blocks of each other and asked what it was. That area was where the Spanish first founded Quito (according to my guides who could not agree which area was North Quito and which was Central Quito). I asked if we could drive through there on the way back and they said of course. Actually they said "claro". It was one of the few things I understood that night. And off we went towards the "area of the churches". It was brilliant. This area is what I have been wanting to see. Old, ornate churches, the seat of government and all its grandois buildings, streets running up and down hills full of cast iron decorative gates. I took picture after picture. Two came out clear. A view of San Francisco(the church) and a view back through the streets towards the hill with the virgin. Enjoy:













After going down one too many one-way streets the wrong way, the guides said there was time for a quick bite to eat. How did I feel about Burger King? Well, I didn"t feel very good about it at all. So we ended up at the cool little bar down the road that cooked hamburgers at the front door on a huge grill. Much better. After downing our three HUGE burgers over conversation as varied as do I have a chauffer in the States and is DC bigger than Quito (I doubt it), I was chauffered back to my hostel where I decided Quito is worthy of a travel destination. Thanks to my two excellent guides for making me appreciate the city so much more...