The air is poco thinner in the second highest capital in the world. If we had flow in from Nevada we probably wouldn’t have noticed the 9,350′ elevation but coming from Charleston the dark night air felt more a deep water dive than cool crisp Andes mountain air. Not bad – just notable.
It was midnight by the time we got to our room. The 45 minute taxi cab ride had us blind to the distance but the roadways were clean and wide.
It’s the edge of the rainy season and the clouds obscure the surrounding volcanoes.
Quito sits on the eastern slopes of an active – yes active – volcano named Pichincha. The latest eruption was in 1999. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
We stayed at the JW Marriott on the fringe of La Mariscal neighborhood. Against the better judgement of the concierge – warned that we might be confronted by sketchy people – we decided to use up our daily breath quota and walked six miles to and from and around the historic downtown area.
On the way we passed the burned out government building and site of a Molotov cocktail barrage from the protests just a week before.
Many buildings downtown were covered in concertina wire and security was plentiful.
Other than that all was calm and peaceful.
The downtown architecture is magnificent. Intricate details, soft colors and wrought iron balconies are reminiscent of Spain.
In 1978 Quito was named one of the world’s first UNESCO World Heritage Cultural sites.
Did you know that Panama hats are made in Ecuador?
There’s a method to our madness…
Bill and I discovered these fino and superfino sombreros in Waikiki, Hawaii 23 years ago. In awe of their buttery but shocked by the prices we vowed to fly to Ecuador one day, buy a hat and save money!!! Right….
I set out to buy a Montecristi and that I did.
We learned that the Panama hat is on the UNESCO Intangible cultural Heritage list.
Off to higher places…
We’re gluttons for punishment.
Here are photos from Quito:
