Why Quito?
- It’s the second highest capital in the world (after La Paz). Since we felt fine after Cusco, Quito would now make sense.
- Avenue of the volcanoes!
- The awesome fare I found provided the additional incentive.
I did think about going to the Galápagos Islands from Quito; however, it gets very expensive after getting there, so I decided that we visit Quito and its surroundings.
Day 1: Mitad del Mundo, El Panecillo and Old Town
We arrived just before midnight the night before, and settled into our Airbnb, which is next to the Parque la Carolina (Carolina Park) and Quicentro Shopping Center. The one-bedroom was just perfect and comfortable for a good night’s sleep.
At precisely 8am, we were picked up at the apartment and headed north to the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) to see the imaginary equator line and the monument. After all, Ecuador means the Equator. That said, the actual equator line is actually 240m north of the marked line there, so there is another privately-owned place called the Intiñan Solar Museum where the line runs through, but even that is no longer accurate.
Nevertheless, it’s still exciting to be at least near the equator.
There are other attractions inside the complex, but we were only interested in the monument itself and the line.
After this, we went to see the view of the Pululahua volcano at the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve, and then the Museo Templo del Sol Pintor Ortega Malia. The former gave us a view into the extinct volcano (with a village right below), and the latter was just… random with equator-related “balancing the egg” and strength demonstrations and such, not as interesting.
We then turned back to drive to the southern part of Quito to El Panecillo, which literally means a little loaf of bread. On the top of the hill (which looks like a piece of bread) is a metal statue of the Madonna made of aluminum. The hill provides a beautiful view of the city, which is in a valley surrounded by volcanoes, some of them active. It’s amazing to see how 2.6 million people can live here, not to mention the high altitude at 2,850m (9,350ft) above sea level.
Our driver took us back to old town where he then dropped us off at Plaza de la Independencia, and we were on our own. We wandered around old town to the main square, and then followed the crowds around. We walked up a very steep hill to get to the Basílica del Voto Nacional, and then did the climb up, but didn’t go all the way up to the tower because it was a little to high up for us. I’ve seen many churches, mostly in Europe, but this one is definitely up there in terms of beauty.
Now that we are tired we decided to try Uber to go back to the apartment. It was less than $5. We actually picked up dinner first and then walked back, and went to the rooftop to enjoy the sunset over Carolina Park.
Day 2: Cotopaxi and Quilotoa on the Avenue of the Volanoes
At exactly 6am, our Airbnb hosts picked us up and took us on a day tour of the two volcanoes. The first is Cotopaxi, which is still active, and the second is Quilotoa, which is an extinct volcano with a crater lake.
After a stop to grab breakfast, we were at the entrance to the Cotopaxi National Park. It was pretty cloudy, so I wasn’t sure whether we’d see anything. After signing in at the entrance, we drove a little bit and then we ended up on gravel roads. Next thing you know, everything cleared up and the volcano was right in front of us. Wow.
We also wanted to look for the lake by the volcano, called the Laguna de Limpiopungo. However, it seemed like a bizarre drive down another side road, so we decided to scrap that plan and head down to Quilotoa, as we are still far away.
The road to Quilotoa was really long. On top of that, we also got lost, until we asked locals for directions and had to turn back. We finally got to the lake and the view was so worth it. You could hike down to the lake and see everything up close, which takes about 45 minutes, but the hike up will take you double that time, unless you take a horse or donkey back up for $10 (which seems also a bit inhumane as these animals just keep going up and down…). Why do we know? Because we asked people as they were coming up. That’s when we decided to take it slow and enjoy the view from above. Don’t forget we’re still at high altitudes, so we can’t move as fast.
The drive back to Quito was long, so we stopped after two hours to have a very early dinner at a cute place called the Cafe de la Vaca, and by the time we got back to the apartment it was 7pm. A very long day, but a fun one – and made friends with our wonderful hosts!
Day 3: Pichincha Volcano
We left early in the morning for the TeleferiQo cable car up Pichincha to get another view of this beautiful city. Because of altitude, we really took our time to hike up further. The view of course didn’t disappoint.
After taking the cable car back down, we took the shuttle that was outside for a few bucks and treated ourselves to ice cream at Corfu and then bought some sweets at the popular Cyrano Bakery.
We went back to the shopping center and grabbed some dinner, and then it was time to head to the airport. It was a lovely 72 hours, but next time we want to head to Cuenca and perhaps the Galápagos. That will require some serious planning as it’s really a once-in-a-lifetime type of trip.
Practical Information
Currency: Ecuador uses the US Dollar. Don’t bring anything higher than $20 bills. You can also use coins, just bring quarters.
Taxis to and from the airport: We paid $25 each way, which is a very reasonable price.
Visiting Cotopaxi: Foreigners must have an accompanied professional guide for $50. We didn’t because we were with locals.
Visiting Quilotoa: There is no entrance fee except parking.