My life in Quito after 6 months

Quitoloa Crater

I can't believe its already been 6 months since I moved to Quito. Time has flown by. My spanish has improved but not as much as I thought it would have by now. So whats my life like here in Quito? I'll share a few things with you so perhaps you can imagine what my life is like

So here are some things that I've figured out quickly about how things are different here.

• Traffic lights are mostly followed... Liz and I call it "Frogger" since we feel that way trying to cross the street without getting run over.

• People urinate everywhere at any time. You can walk in broad daylight on the sidewalk and walk past a man who is peeing literally standing on the sidewalk peeing on a wall.

• There is no personal space here. You'll be stuffed into a 

  

  Midad del Mundo - Equator

   us and when you think its full, there is still room for more.

• When you are walking down the sidewalk, people don't get out of your way (even though I am way bigger then most of them believe it or not)

• People play music on their cell phones as loud as they can, whenever and where ever they want.

• All cars have carpet on their dashboard of their cars... not sure why and they usually decorate it with corny trinquets.
• things don't make sense a lot... as in I don't understand why they do certain things the way they do it.

• Riding in a taxi is a guessing game of how much the fare is going to be. Sometimes the taxi pulls over, you tell them where you want to go and they give you a price (and its usually a bit high so I try to negotiate), sometimes they turn on their meter (way cheaper by far) and sometimes you just get in and ask how much the fare is when you get to your location.

Halloween party with co-workers

But with all the chaos here, things run efficiently (surprisingly). You can find public transportation to get you anywhere (it might take a while and not make sense but it will get you there. You can always find little corner stores to buy what you need. You just leave your garbage on the sidewalk (in garbage bags) and it will get picked up. You don't need to recycle (they don't offer it much), there are people that will sort through your trash to grab your recycling (I'm assuming to take them somewhere to make $, they are not official workers).

So in the past 6 months..

hot springs at our hotel in Papallacta

• visited the hot springs twice (Papallacta) for the weekend
• went to Mindo and the cloud forest
• traveled for a month in Peru
• went to the Galapagos Islands
• went to the beach a few times to go surfing
• have not been pick-pocketed or robbed
• improved my Spanish a bit (I take classes 2x a week)
• went to a national soccer game
• found 6 places that serve dark microbrews
• rented a car for a weekend and got out of town 
• had my credit card information stolen from the rental car agency and had fraudulent charges 
• hiked up a 15,500 foot peak (I just don't like hiking too much)
• been sick more then I have ever been, not sure why

So what does 2013 hold for us?

• We are planning on visiting Colombia maybe in February for a week.
• A trip back to the states in July (Cleveland, Detroit, Minnesota, Denver)
• trip to Argentina to visit Iguazu falls and the wineries
• perhaps climb Cotopaxi volcano (19,347 feet)
• go out salsa dancing 

 

camping near Cotopaxi national park

via ferrata

 

we rock climb at this store, its like REI

cable car across canyon in Mindo

 

racing the kiddos at the local park

outdoor rock climbing in Quito, its what we have in the city

Cotopaxi Volcano

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Mindo - cloud forest

Last weekend Liz and I took a quick trip to Mindo to play in the cloud forest. The last bus leaves Quito at 4pm on Friday so I had to go straight to the bus station (La Ofelia) from work and meet Liz there. I got there at 3:30pm thinking that I arrived in plenty of time to buy tickets. I was wrong but luckily I bought the last 2 tickets! When it came time to get on the bus I couldn't find my seat (Liz and I were separated) and the bus attendant showed me to my seat, which was literally a jump seat behind the bus driver. And there were people without tickets who stood.

the main street in Mindo

It was a scenic 2 hour bus ride to Mindo but nothing too spectacular. When we pulled up to Mindo, we could pretty much see the entire town. It is basically 1 main street lined with stores and some dirt side streets. Not much to it. The guidebook says a population of 1,000. The night before, I had made a reservation at the Dragonfly Inn, which is owned by a counselor at my school and a favorite of the teachers. Being a small town we found our hotel quickly and checked in. It was a pretty nice place, located on a small creek and mostly made of wood. Its a small inn with about 10 rooms or so and a restaurant. Our room had a small balcony with a hanging chair overlooking the town which was nice. We paid $46/night which is actually a bit high for Ecuador. We usually spend about $20-$30. We spent our Friday night having dinner at a local taco place (Taco Loco) and called it an early night.

Dragonfly Inn

woof-woof, woof-woof.

We were awoken in the middle of the night by barking dogs. This is something we have started to become accustom to in Quito but this was loud. I looked out the window and saw about 5 stray dogs standing on the street right outside our balcony barking at each other. They got in a little tussle but then dispersed. But then this riled up the dogs in the homes and they all started barking as well. It was like a chorus. This continued on for what seemed like all night, right when I was about to fall asleep again the canine chorus started up again. I had a horrible night of sleep.

Liz was a trooper and got up early and did a long run up the road as she is training for a half marathon and scoped out the town for us. After breakfast (in our hotel which was good) we decided to hike up to the cable car and the waterfalls. We could have taken a taxi but decided to hike up the dirt road up there. I would guess that it was about a 3 mile walk up there as it took us about an hour. Along the way, we were looking for birds but didn't see any since it was probably too late in the day. This place is known for birds and popular for birdwatching in the early morning (Liz saw the birdwatchers on her early morning run).


When we arrived at the "Taribita" (cable car) we paid our $5 and got into the little 4 person basket. One of the workers stood on a ledge off the cart, hanging on without security. The other worker fired up the gas engine, stepped on the gas and off we went, zooming across this valley at 150 feet or so above the trees. It is a 530 meter (1,740 feet) cable and you get whisked across in a brisk minute or so.

I hope the cable doesn't break!

This is the guy that drives the cable car across

we climbed up the ladder only to be told
to climb back down

 After we got to the other side, we hiked to some waterfalls. The 1st one was about a 15 minute downhill hike. When we arrived, we saw some people cliff jumping about 30 feet high. Liz and I risked our lives to hike up this sketchy ladder to the top of the cliff only to be greeted by a man up top who told us that this was owned by a different property (with a separate entrance fee) and that we had to go back down the ladder. Bummer. I went for a brisk swim at the bottom but the water was a bit chilly so we didn't hang out for long. We hiked along the trail to a few other waterfalls, there were 5 in total and we hiked to 3 of them. We hiked back up to the cable car and returned back to the other side. We were hot and hungry by this point so we paid $5 for a taxi ride (pick up truck) back into town.

this ladder was sketchy

When we returned to the Dragonfly, we ran into 3 co-workers of mine. We knew they were coming that day so we were expecting them. They tried to come earlier that morning but the buses were full so they had to take a later bus. They told us about a hotel in town they had just visited that made their own chocolate and beer. So off we went! We were a bit disappointed when they told us that they didn't have beer at the moment but we did buy a brownie and a candy bar. That night we had dinner with my co-workers and walked around the town a bit. There are a few bars but this is a small town. Exhausted from the lack of sleep from the night before we went to bed early. The barking wasn't as bad this night but it still interupted our sleep, I think next time we will stay away from hotels right in town as there are others on the edge of the town that looked much quieter.

We spent sunday by visiting the butterfly garden which was about a 45 minute walk (we could have taken a  taxi). There is a butterfly/hummingbird garden right in town but this one was out of town. It was a pretty fun visit and we saw a butterfly hatch out of its chrysalis and fed butterflies from our hands. We returned back to the Dragonfly at about noon and spent the next few hours hanging out till our bus left at 3pm. The buses return back to Quito on sundays at 6:30am, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. We bought our bus tickets that morning (around 7am) and when we returned from our butterfly garden tour (at noon) we tried to change our tickets to the earlier 2pm bus but the buses were full. Good thing we bought tickets that morning because our bus back to Quito was completely packed with people standing in the aisles as well. On the way back we saw the "Mitad del Mundo" (the equator) which we have been planning to visit so we will do that soon.

 

after they hatch ouf of their chrysalis, they have to hang like
this for a few hours for its wings to try

One last thing about Mindo, there are 2 canopy tour companies in town. We thought about doing it (only $15) but one of the companies was shut down due to a fatal accident in May. The cable broke killing a tourist and leaving the guide in a coma (I think). Even though the other company in town advertises having international certification and being built by Costa Rican experts with experience, we decided against it.

 

a popular juice bar in town, the swings are not that comfortable actually

I used this leaf for shade

I think this was someone's traveling RV, what a tough truck!

I don't know if the canopy companies use this but this was just
in the open next to the road

Operation "Find good cerveza"

enjoying a Stout at St. Adrew's in Cumbaya

Coming from Colorado where there are lots of microbrews, Ecuador has been a huge letdown. There are 3 local beers (Pilsner, Club and Brahma) and they are all watered down and light. I'm a dark beer fan so they just don't do it for me. The local beers are cheap, about $0.70/beer (regular 330mL or 11oz) or $1.25 for a large beer (550mL or 18.6oz) at grocery stores and about $1.25-$2.00 ($3 at a restaurant/bar is about the most expensive I've seen) at restaurants and bars. Even though they are cheap, they are all light and just don't have enough flavor for me. Out of the 3, Club is my favorite, it tastes like a watery Heineken. Since I've been here, I've been on a quest to find better, darker beer in Ecuador and here is what I've found so far (ranked in order)

Turtle's Head - #1

They have 2 locations, one in Quito off of Amazonas and La Nina(a block south from the JW Mariott) and the other in Cumbaya. I've been to the Quito location twice now. Its an English pub and it has a nice ambience. There are some T.V.'s to watch sports, 2 dartboards, a pool table and a foosball table. The place is a bit dark though as they are only a few windows in the front.

 

They have 3 types of microbrews, a pilsner, red and a stout. Their pilsner is nothing to rave about, the red was okay but the stout was pretty good. Its pricey though at $6/pint. Even the local Pilsner is $4.40/pint. They have a large licor selection, mostly whiskeys but they are pricey. Their food selection is okay and I had the fish and chips and it was one of the best I've had. It was seabass instead of the usual Cod (I think thats what they normally are). I've been here twice now, once on a Monday afternoon around 5:30pm and the place was nearly empty and again on a saturday night at 8pm. It was empty that night till about 10pm. People tend to go out late here and don't really do the after work hour happy hour thing. I don't think they have happy hour deals here anyways. So far this is my favorite bar in Quito. Btw, Finn McCool's (irish pub in Mariscal that is so popular), doesn't have any good beer. They serve local beer or they have Guiness (in a can) for $14! Turtle's head is way better in my opinion. Better beer and better ambience.

Its located on La Nina and Amazonas, prety close to the Marriott hotel.




This is the Cumbaya location, it was closed when I was there

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Corner Pub in Mariscal #2

I just stumbled into this place without ever hearing about it. They had a decent stout at a decent price (for microbrews in Quito anyways). Pints for $4, pitchers for $12 and a jirafe (1.5 liters) for $15. Their stout was not as smooth as Turtle's Head but it was almost as good and definitely cheaper ($6/pint at Turtle's). Its a pretty simple bar, a "corner pub" as you will. They had some outdoor seating as well. Their food menu is pretty limited though, like 5 things. Its pretty centrally located in Mariscal off of Amazonas and Jose Calama.

 

Hotel Savoy - #3

This place is a bit of a hidden secret. No one I talked to had heard of it but they have good beer, probably equal to Turtle's Head, just not as good of an atmosphere. The restaurant is located in the basement of this hotel, which is kind of old and in an odd part of town kind of near the airport.
They also have 3 beers, a light, red and a stout. I found the stout tasty and smooth but didn't care for the light and the red that much. The beers were $3.50/12oz. Its a hotel restaurant and not a bar so don't expect a happening scene. I went there on a Monday night around 7pm and we were the only ones there. They have 1 T.V. but thats about it. Come here for the beer, not for the bar.

 

 

 

St. Andrew's in Cumbaya - #4

This place isn't in Quito but in Cumbaya, a suburb just outside of town. Getting there was an adventure. I took a bus there and didn't know where to get off and went past Cumbaya and ended up in the next town Tumbaco before I asked someone on the bus. This place also had
the 3 beers, light, red and dark. I had the stout and it was okay but not as good as Turtle's Head or Hotel Savoy. It was also the most expensive at $6.50/pint but they do have happy hour (Mondays 4-11pm, Tue-Sat 4pm-7pm) which is 2 x 1 draft beers. They have a good Scotch Whiskey selection (Glenlivet 12 yrs $14) and a decent food selection. Its located right in the central park (Turtle's Head is on the other side of the park).

 

 

Santa Espuma - #5

There was nothing special about this restaurant/bar. The beers were not that good. The stout tasted a bit bitter, they were out of the red and the light was just light. They didn't have that big of a food selection either and it was pricey. Beers were the cheapest at $4/pint though. The bar atmosphere was okay with a few T.V.'s but it was more of a restaurant. I went on a Wednesday afternoon at around 5pm and they were just opening up. It was empty till about 6:30pm when a few other folks walked in.

Its located on Whymper off of Orellana near the Pekin restaurant.

Cherusker- #6

I really wanted to like this place. Its located in Mariscal and its a big house that looks impressive from the outside. Inside, it wasn't that impressive. There are both indoor and outdoor seating but it wasn't really that comfortable. There were no bar games and no T.V.'s to watch games but just loud music. It was overly crowded on a Friday night and I couldn't find a seat. The beer (stout) was bitter and not smooth. It was also expensive at $6/pint (I think). After standing around, a table opened up. I sat down with my friends only to realize what looked like was vomit below the table. Yup and it was.
This place is centrally located (across from Finn McCool's) but its definitely a loud, party bar. Not my kind of place.