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Andes
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Ibike Ecuador |
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Dispatch
1 - Quito |
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Quito is located in a high valley along
the Pan-American highway (Ave of the Volcanoes), among several active
volcanoes. Volcano Cotopaxi is seen in the photo on the right.
It's worth at least a couple days of exploration. One of
its assets is its natural history and dramatic setting. From various vantage
points, to the west is the Volcano Pinchincha, to the south is Volcano
Cotopaxi, to the east is Volcano Cayambe and to the north is Volcano
Cotacachi. Periodically some of these still come to life.
From Parc Metropolitano there are not only great views, but also
excellent bike trails and walking routes. |
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First impressions of Quito, the capitol of Ecuador, are that it is a
clean, relaxed, comfortably prosperous
city:
- People are well dressed; cloths are clean, no rips, mostly
leather shoes, plenty of suits and ties for men and skirts and
nylons for women.
- Among the shops you can find every consumer good (home
appliances, clothes, furniture, shoes, glasses, beauty aids, etc.)
that you would at a Wal-Mart, only they are spread among intimate, distinctive, small boutiques, not lined up in the long isles of a
box store.
- It is a city where people do a lot of walking so shoe stores
packed with choices are a common sight.
- There are a lot of restaurants and small eateries so enough
people have disposable income to keep these establishments in
business and don't have to eat at home or carry their meals.
- The are plenty of service sector business as well, like copy
centers, banks, internet cafes, travel agents, hair dressers, and
photo studios.
- The streets are filled with traffic, mostly small sedans and
pickup trucks. The expensive car of choice is the
out-of-scale oversized Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). The
sidewalks are also full and buses are crowded with people heading to work, school, markets and recreation. But there are
almost no bicycles.
- There is a lot of construction around the city and money is
being spent on good design and architecture. This is
complimented by a good deal of contemporary public art.
- The parks are well maintained and around the city, both the
parks and streets are generally clean.
Contradicting this image, the favorite local topic of conversation
seems to be how bad the economy is. It may have slow growth, but there
are few hallmarks of being really bad. A couple indicators of not everything being
rosy for everyone:
- Street vendors with small stock and inexpensive goods or food
wait for their next customer, often women with small children at
their feet.
- Guards at the door of most commercial properties.
- Much of the population lives in small and/or cramped abodes.
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Walking or cycling into the neighborhood and reading the signs over
the shops and looking at the street life is full of contrasts and curiosities.
Because of the geography of the city, in Quito, there is very
basic housing with million dollar views.
Even without expending much energy the streets of Quito can keep
you amused. One of the prime menu items is Quito is a wide
variety of succulent
fresh squeezed fruit juice drinks. Find the right restaurant with outdoor
tables, order a fresh fruit juice and watch the parade of interesting
faces that pass.
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Here we have a couple of extremes of Quito land
use. On the left is a very human scale, walking friendly street in the
Mariscal district, with multiple roof lines, a human-friendly street wall,
texture,
color building and plantings (La Casa Sol Hotel). About ten blocks
away, on a right is a wide boulevard with narrow sidewalks, are a KFC
and McDonald's facing each other across the intersection. In the central
Quito and most small towns the merchandising is still done by small retailers,
but on the urban edge there is an increasing number of larger "box" stores and
franchise restaurants. |
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Food is very important to bicyclist. So
important that they often photograph it for memories.
P.S. On several consecutive days the comment was
made that this is the best meal yet. It is always a question whether the
food is getting better or the cyclists are getting hungrier by meal time.
Even if the later is true, we ate a lot of superb meals in Ecuador. |
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A couple rowing in the lagoon in Parque
Alameda, Ouito.
On Independence monument, the condor, symbol of
Ecuador perches above, and the lion, symbol of Spain, slinks away below with a
spear in its back. |
The cultural and human history can rival the natural beauty.
The history of the area as a trading center goes back a thousand of years.
In the intervening centuries it has been completely destroyed by volcanoes or
invasions a couple times, but always rebuilt in the same area. On a walking
tour of the old town it seems like it takes a half hour to tell the
story of every block, building and plaza -- twice as long for every
church, of which there are countless. There are a lot of
stories about historic churches and dead people, but the district is
still alive today. Though the churches can
be easier to photograph and document -- as is presented below -- than the
vitality of the city, it is not all about churches. There
is excellent people watching to be found. The old city is packed with
Ecuadorians and in many of the plazas there is entertainment by
local performers. The palate is made more interesting and has more
texture and color because a lot of people still wear traditional cloths;
women in skirts and blouses and men in loose pants and ponchos. |
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At the south end of the Quito is the unique,
winged, dancing "Virgin of Quito" monument, on Panecillo ("the little bread
loaf") hill. The
sculpture is made with 7000 pieces of aluminum. |
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La Ronda street is known for its preserved colonial
architecture and cultural heritage: signs along the street report its artistic
and bohemian tradition but otherwise it seems like a quiet backwater now. |
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Left: Convent San Diego, the Franciscans (?)
constructed this church to provide the priests and laymen with a place of
retreat.
Right: San Marco Church, Junin St., another traditionally preserved section of
Quito with a number of museums and galleries. |
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Left: the grand Bolivar Theater. It was built
in 1933, but later heavily damaged by fire. There are plans to restore it.
Just down the block is a museum dedicated to Manuela Saenz (born in Quito,
1797). Mostly forgotten by history there are a couple references to her in
Ecuador. She was the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish nobleman, at age 20 she
married an English aristocrat, then became a South American liberationist, spy,
Simon Bolivar partner for eight years (whom life she saved from an
assassination attempt), and an acquaintance of Herman Melville. She died destitute in 1856
in Peru.
Right: Italianate Vinci building in old city. |
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El
Sagrario Church, located just off the Grand Plaza, was originally the main
chapel of the Cathedral, built for the cult of the Holy Sacrament. The alter
(right), with its ornamented Salomon (twisted) columns is an excellent frame for
a high Baroque that leaves practically no space without ornamentation. This
style is typical of Bernardo de Legarda’s sculpture. |
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La Compania de Jesus Church, built by the Jesuits,
is one of the richest churches in America. The extraordinary facade can be
described as a lacework on stone. Six Salomon columns in the lower part support
a second level of different heights. No pictures are allowed in the
heavily gold gilded church.
On the top right is a photo of La Compania from
San Francisco Church. One one visit to the plaza they were celebrating the
potato with the world's biggest cauldron of Loco de Queso (pototo and cheese
soup). The plaza was filled with people enjoying live traditional
entertainment and sipping bowls of soup. |
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The Church of La Merced
has extraordinary collection of religious art of Quito. Woodcarvings by Bernardo Legarda. Far
Left: Senor of Devine Love, Church of La Merced. |
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Left: Front of the National Basilica.
Right: Fanciful art on the balconies of the Casa del Artista. Far right: A
colorful stairway leads up into the neighborhood. |
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There are a number of
other good museums and galleries in town. One
with a particular Ecuadorian flavor is the Guayasamin. Besides
having an excellent collection of his paintings and sculptures, it has
pre-Colombian pieces and art from the Spanish Catholic colonial
period. |
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On weekends there is original art for sale and live
music in Parque El Ejido.
Socializing, relaxing, eating ice cream, Ecuadorian
3 on 3 volleyball, and traditional music and dance is the order of the day in
the park on Sunday afternoon. |
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One
of the nicest assets of Quito is hilltop Parque Metropalitano. Its forest is
intended to be the lungs (or air filter) of the city, but evidently this aspect is
under threat from development in the park and overwhelmed by development in the
valley. Even
so it offers great views, a variety of recreatiojn trails for bicycling and jogging, kids
play areas and a general opportunity to escape the city and relax. |
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