Volcanic Activity

It may be because I was brought up in a country lacking volcanoes or that what we were taught of them is the disasters they bring, but being near these dormant beasts, let alone the base of one, puts me at a slight unease. However, opening the curtains on my first day in Quito to Volcán Pichincha was a stunning site, as was seeing several snow-peaked ones breaking through the clouds on my flight in at sunset the day before. Ecuador certainly gives a beautiful first impression.

This equatorial country will be my home for the next few months. Why here? Well my first motive (aside from my unbridled passion for travel) was to learn Spanish in a Spanish speaking country. Why Spanish? Well 1. I guess my first prod was attending World Youth Day (global religious event) in Spain and having a be-friended lady from Argentina translating the speaker’s Spanish into English for me and me thus thinking ‘I wish I could do that’. 2. It is one of the most globally spoken languages and thus it could broaden my horizons 3. It’s meant to be one of the easiest to learn (not that I think learning a language is in any way easy) 4. Throw off the stereotype of ‘British people do not speak any other language because everyone speaks English.’ So with ample reasons I passed the idea to a family friend who originally hails from Ecuador, and thus that ‘wish’ came to be.

[Side note – if anyone knows someone who can get me to Antarctica, please get in touch]

So, after my brief visit in the USA (previous 2 blogs) to catch up with some good friends, the first stop on my quest to become bi-lingual is Quito and with it my first taste of South America. I’ve not got too much prior knowledge of this country (or even this continent) aside from knowing the conquistadors caused a lot of strife, the antics of the ancient Inca people, the basic geography of the amazon rainforest… and of course some contact with people from this continent who I’ve met out of their native homeland.  Thus I was keen to learn how this all fitted in with where I now found myself.

To give a brief mental image of Quito: Well a city is a city anywhere in the world, in that you have a lot of people in one place, so the vibe is well established (as is the traffic!) The city is a patchwork of colonial with generic modern, in that the old parts of town make you think you’ve just walked across the Atlantic and down a Spanish street, whist others are more in line with modernised Thailand/Malaysia, with the simple and modest mono-tonal one/two story concrete buildings (though here they are less packed together). There are also a handful of shiny new multi-stories but not obvious skyscrapers. The roads are solid and not potholed (a one up on Asia) and decent pavements line each side of the somewhat narrow streets. It sits snug in a valley between mountains, so limited on width but stretches out along the base in between steep slopes.

What makes Quito unique is its location. Averaging at 2,850metres/9,350feet above sea level, it is the highest capital city in the world, literally taking your breath away. I found it hard going to walk and talk at the same time on a slight incline. And even the local who was showing me around was struggling when we took a sharp ascent.

I only spent 2 days here so cannot really do this place justice, but I did visit the 2 most popular areas of town. Firstly La Mariscal is where it all happens i.e. the entertainment area, with its markets selling traditional souvenirs (e.g. clothes, crafts, jewellery and such like) for the daytime and bars at night, essentially the established Backpackers’ Area. Adjacent to this is a famous monument named ‘Arc de el Ejudo’ within a park named after it.

The Centro Historico (old town) is where most of the Spanish colonial building group, along with modern plazas, the presidential and municipal palaces, beautifully designed churches and other sights of interest along with La Calle de Ronda. This is probably the most famous street in Quito, Ronda has several meanings in Spanish but I think this one refers to ‘night serenaders’ as latin-american music from guitarists (sounding something between classical and Cuban) floated out from the small bars and cafes either side to fill the night air. The calle (‘street’ in Spanish) looked every bit like an idyllic Spanish scene, with its winding lane of blanched terrace houses and their contrasting black railed petite balconies encasing the small window inlets… however the Ecuadorian buntings strung above the pavement gave the game away.

A description of an exotic new place would not be complete without a mention of new and exciting food (a joy, though sometimes a woe, of travelling). I was not disappointed either (no woes here), but certainly surprised. When I mentioned my desire to try local cuisine, the local lad (son of the woman who’s ‘looking after me’ whilst I stayed in Quito) insisted that I try two of his favourite soups, which revolve around the local cooking staples of tomato, onion and garlic.  The first was a spicy fish and potato soup (like/maybe tuna) and the other was a marine feast. Both were absolutely delicious and served with ‘homemade’ style lemonade (also exceptionally nice)… and a plate of popcorn and fried sweetcorn, which you add to the soup… food-mind blown. Never in a million years would I have put popcorn and soup together but the million and 1th year is here in Quito… and it tasted good and one for my cook book back home.

There is also another type of corn that I have never tried before, which is grown in the Ecuadorian highlands (called Mote) which is white, fluffy looking (when cooked) and has a texture similar to the British green pea…but still retaining an ‘unsalted popcorn’ like taste, in summary, rather nice. I also tried a snack sized fried thin dough thing that was filled with beef and rice…also rather tasty. I’m glad I was with people who could order these things for me because I struggled to order fried eggs on my own at breakfast time in the hotel.

Ecuador certainly won me over with its capital city and it gave a promising start to my sojourn in this land.