Four Cabs, Four Churches, and Jackie Brown

I managed to see much more of Quito than I expected to on Tuesday. After class I was to meet one of the hosts for lunch in what is called Quicentro. I thought it would be cool to see a differnt part of the city, where ever it was, and so I hopped in a cab and told the cabbie to take me to Quicentro. I had no idea where Quicentro was, so as he drove me in the opposite direction from my destination, I just sat back and enjoyed the view. After much back and forth about where exactly he was to drop me off, I ended up in front of a pharmacy on the other side of town from where I wanted to go. I still didn´t know I was in the wrong section of town and so I texted my lunch buddy the crossroads where I was standing so she could find me.

30 seconds later I got a call. Where those two streets meet is in El Centro. Not in Quicentro. Oh. Where is Quicentro? Other side of town. So I hailed a taxi and asked to go to Quicentro. This time I emphasized the QUI in Quicentro. Along the way my cab driver peppered me with questions in Spanish. When it was made clear I was a tourist who had no idea where he was going, I remembered to look for his meter. He never turned it on. Or he turned it off along the way. So instead of a $3 ride, it was $5. This is a big difference here. But he got me to where I needed to be and I gladly paid him the $5.

Where he dropped me off was a mall. Lunch was in the food court. And apparently at mall food courts, the prices are similar to U.S. mall food courts. So a bland sandwich, a coke, and two cab rides later I was down $15. And my host only had an hour lunch break, which was now down to 15 minutes. So we chatted as best we could for 15 minutes before heading back out front so I could find another cab.

I had planned to see Quito´s large cultural museum near El Centro, which, I was just informed, was back where I was taken the first time. I told the cabbie to take me to el Banco Museo. The confused look on his face should have been a warning. I ignored it thinking every cabbie would know the main museum. Bad idea. 20 minutes later we stopped in front of a banco museo; one that had a collection of coins. Wrong museum. I realzied this as he pulled off. But I was now square in the middle of the city´s Old Town, another area I had wanted to see this week. And so I went exploring.

Right next door to the museum o´coins was La Compañia de Jesus, Ecuador´s most ornate church. There was a $2 entrance fee, and in discovering this, the people collecting money discovered I needed an English speaking guide. Since I was the only one there, I had a personal tour. Construction on the church began in 1605 and ended 163 years later. It´s that ornate. Over 7 tons of gold were used to cover the interior (it is remarkable shiny). And there was a fire 11 years ago that did quite a bit of damage to one corner of the church. This area has been repaired but it looks about 250 years shinier. Unfortunately for those of you looking at my photos, no photography was allowed in any of the churches. My guide asked where I had been and offered suggestions on where to go next. I asked for sites that didn´t require a taxi.

And so after my tour I walked one block up to the San Fransico Monastary & Plaza, The city´s largest colonial structure and oldest church (building started in 1524). It was impressive. When I heard the thunder clap and the rain started falling, I decided to buy a ticket to check out the religious relics inside. It was creepy. If you did not know, Jesus died for your sins. And according to these Spanish artists, he died an extremely painful death. He was also very pale. I am darker skinned than these depictions. The museum was full of crusifixes and bloodied saviors. And with only half the lights on and and the thunderstorm outside, I wanted to get it over with quickly. So, after 20 minutes I called it quits and decided to wait out the rain on the terrace out front with a great view of the city.

When the rain didn´t let up, I decided to grab un umbrella from one of the vendors on the street who were selling them for $1 (it broke 2 hours later), and off I went walking around the colonial neighborhood. I took a quick peak inside another church one block over, then a stroll past the Presidential Plaza and the Plaza de la Independencia (the city´s central plaza). I discovered that if one needs an amatuer guide in this city, just whip out your camera. They will find you. After shielding off three of these "guides" by telling them I was a student with no money, I went walking towards the the large gothic church that towered above the compact rows of buildings in the Old Town. As old as the Basilica del Voto National looked, it was actually built in 1923. And it was closed to tours for the day. But I did manage to find an open door on the side to slip in and take a peak. The ceiling leaked during the rain, there was a large puddle by the pews. And it was very dark. So after a few minutes, I was back on the streets.

I walked aimlessly through the colonial streets, trying to take in the area that makes Quito unique. Aside from the rain, it really was nice. Lots of shops and churches and restaurants, but in old, beautiful buildings. Much better than my neighborhood. I walked for about an hour before my jeans were soaked up to my shins. Eventually I noticed I was out of the colonial area and into a business district. In fact, I could now see the museum I had wanted to tour. Having no real clue as to where I was or if I was walking towards home, I thought it best to find a cab. I found several of them in the distance, but each time I got to the area where I saw them, they had all disappeared. This stalking continued for another 20 minutes as I made my way further and further into an area of Quito I didn´t know. Finally a cabbie took pity on me (it was pretty obvious I was not in my element) and pulled up to see if I needed a ride. This was the cheapest cab I had all day. $1.42 all the way back to my hostel. I so got ripped off earlier. Or I just managed to walk that far.

Back at the hostel I got a call from my coworker. He needed to kill some time while his girlfriend was in class. And so we walked in the rain to an outdoor (but covered!) coffee/bar/restaurant around the corner. There we sipped tea, ate finger foods and felt very effeminate. When his girlfriend called a short time later we jumped up and quickly looked for a taxi to go pick her up. We ended the night at the artsy bar the gals took me to the week before. My coworker was impressed. I was just happy to be out of the rain and sitting by a fire place.

We all hopped in cab a bit later and they dropped me at my hostel. I was in no mood to do my homework nor call it a night just yet, so I popped into the lounge to see what was on the tele. A backpacker from Cali was hanging out playing with the hostel dog. She pointed to the notebook with the movie listings when I asked what was on for the night. Out of a couple hundred titles, Jackie Brown was the winner. And so, for the next three hours I lounged on the couch and I enjoyed the movie soundtrack (the actual movie is pretty bad). A pretty chill ending to a busy day.

For pics of the day, follow this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15233918@N00/sets/72157602997913034/