The Blaus - South America and Europe

Fin de Mayo - Quito, Ecuador

We were in Quito for a few days on our way to Colombia. We spent time walking around the old city, cathedrals, and colonial plazas. On Sundays the old city shuts down the streets to traffic, so we wandered around and took in the sights. Our Sunday routine has become similar to the routine of the locals. We have a set lunch at a local restaurant that is crowded with churchgoers and their families dressed in their Sunday best. This particular Sunday, we had a moment of reckoning, as we looked around the restaurant and had a sudden realization that we were in Ecuador and our environment should be foreign to us, but it is becoming completely normal. Every once in awhile we are overcome with the realization that we are not home, and this was one of those times.

Quito is a strange city. It´s divided into new and old, and the new section of town is where most of the gringos stay and hang out. There is one street in new town that completely caters to gringos, where you can find restaurants that serve food from anywhere in the world, upscale bars, and all types of services for the gringo population and visitors. Here you are guaranteed to run into people that you have met traveling in other places in South America. The way this street is constructed and the way that it seems a bit out of place makes it feel like a fantasy land. There is a dark side to Quito. We were told by everyone not to walk outside after dark, so we were very careful to take cabs at night or we planned to cook dinners at our hostel to avoid going out at night.

We stayed in between new and old town in a family-run hostel. The family had three children who were similar to us in age. Every morning we woke up and had breakfast with the family and they made us feel right at home. It seems the farther north we travel, the nicer people become. On our last morning there, we discovered that the man of the house is a well-known author. The sweet old man who had scrambled eggs for us every morning is a scholar. Guillermo Navarro Jiménez has written 15 books about politics and economics, including El Plan Colombia, which we will try to find in English when we return to the States. All of his most recent books are about the US and imperialism in Latin America. It was great talking to him and we were shocked to learn that he really is a famous author.

We went to a good museum in Quito, which hosted a huge exhibit about Pre-Colombian Ecuador. It was interesting to see how the Ecuadorians painted the rise of the Inca Empire compared to how the Peruvians talked about the same period of time in history. Ecuador was home to many indigenous groups that were conquered and whose culture was destroyed by the Incas, so they celebrate the cultures of their indigenous people more than the rule of the Incas. The Peruvians seem to idealize the Incan Empire, and it is telling to learn that not all South American countries view this in the same way.

We had a bit of time to kill in Quito while we waited for our flight to Cartagena, so we decided to go to a movie. We saw Star Wars one night and ate at Burger King...we had a very American evening. We were also craving another flavor from home...sushi. So, we had sushi in Quito, which we haven´t eaten since we were in Buenos Aires. We celebrated our last night in Quito with a great sushi dinner. It was wonderful. Another indulgence that we take forgranted in the Bay Area.

We found an English bookstore in Quito. This is the only English bookstore we have encountered in 5 months of travel in South America. We bought a Spanish to English dictionary, because we have exhausted the use of our phrasebook and we thought we might need to expand our vocab in order to talk ourselves out of trouble in Colombia. The bookstore was owned by an American expat who was a very interesting character. He named his bookstore Confederate books and his logo was the Confederate flag.

posted by The Blaus @ 5:33 PM