To Quito or Not To Quito?

Well to be honest I wasn’t looking forward to Quito, I figured just another big city.  Seen the colonial section in a few other cities, seen them all right?  Seen enough beautiful churches and plazas, they all start to look the same right?  Well for the most part yes, but I was pleasantly surprised by our afternoon in Quito’s old town.  It is a very utilitarian area with a real day to day feel; whereas in many cities the historic division has warped into having a kind of oddly vacant feel, except for tourism.  

Wandering around the cobblestone streets and plazas, viewing the many prominent churches, my favorite was the Gothic Basilica del Vote Nacional.  The towers are spectacular rising 80 meters into the sky.  A little nerve racking, we were actually able to climb up into these towers via a series of very steep ladders and rickety wooden planks.  Also unique, instead of featuring the more typical design choice of gargoyles, iguanas, turtles, armadillos, and an array of different birds protrude from the elaborate ornamentation. 

The rest of our short stint in Quito was spent visiting La Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World), a site declared in 1736 as the equatorial line.  Touristy, with a large monument and museum, the humorous part is that it is all actually a lie... and one you have to pay $2 to see!  The monument is actually 240 meters off of zero degrees; the real equatorial line is on a hill across the street on a thousand year old indigenous site.  It is pretty interesting as similar sights are being discovered all over Ecuador that coincide with other equinoctial points.  Another thing I thought was cool (and did learn due to my $2 admission) is that you weight 0.5 lbs. less at the equator.

In conclusion, yes to Quito.  Although it IS just another big city and definitely not my favorite, it deserves some time to be discovered…