I thought Quito would be an afterthought. Just another Andean capital. Ecuador has long been on my list of countries to travel to, but the Galapagos Islands were the main reason. But now that I have two days in Quito, I’ve started to realize that the city has a lot more to offer than I imagined.
After landing at Quito airport with my group from LAN airlines and Metropolitan Touring—the sponsors of my trip—I make my way to the luxurious Casa Gangotena hotel in Quito’s old town.
The hotel has apparently forgotten to send a car to pick us up, so we take taxis on the 45-minute ride through the long, skinny city—Quito is 50km long by 8km wide, sandwiched like a snake between mountains in the Andes.
Casa Gangotena itself is right on the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the main squares in this part of Quito.
My spacious room looks out onto the Iglesia de San Francisco, a grand 16th-century church with an adjacent monastery hiding one of the prettiest courtyards in the city. I never imagined Quito would be so beautiful.
My two days in Quito start with a tour of the church and several other important sites, including the stunning La Compania, a 17th-century Jesuit church filled with so much shining gold that I reach for my sunglasses when I walk in.
But the real highlight of my trip to Quito is a living-like-a-local tour of San Roque. Beyond the city’s famous churches and pigeon-filled plazas are the people and places that make it unique in the world.
Take Rosita, for example. She is one of a number of women offering a limpia, or skin cleansing using herbs and nettles to remove negative energy from the body.
Based at the Mercado de San Francisco in Quito, Rosita tells the group about her work, using me as a volunteer guinea pig to show how she rubs nettles, rose petals, and other herbs on the skin to cleanse the body and diagnose illnesses (she tells me that I’m very stressed…is it that obvious?).
After the limpia, we explore the market, marveling at the local fruits and vegetables and trying to count the number of chicken feet sticking up from the meat counter.
From there we walk down the street, sampling aguas de vida—herbal infusions that are good for the health—and watching local shop owner Luis Banda make homemade colaciones, peanuts glazed with honey.
It’s a three-hour process that he undertakes with a bronze pot over hot coals, and his is the only shop of its kind left in Quito. It’s a shame, as the peanuts taste amazing.
Another person that makes Quito tick is someone I can’t see. She’s a nun, and her vows forbid her from being viewed in public.
But that doesn’t stop her and her fellow sisters at the Carmen Alto convent from selling homemade herbal remedies from behind a revolving door.
And if you bring them a basket of eggs before your wedding, they will pray for your marriage. It’s a bit like magic.
Down the road is the tiny Sombreria Benalcazar hat shop, a hole-in-the-wall store selling every Ecuadorian hat imaginable.
The proprietor shows us hats that women wear to watch bullfights, hats worn by street performers, and even hats that people use to carry food while they walk.
There is truly a hat for every occasion in this country, including the Panama Hat, which was invented in Ecuador.
And the prices are right, too. For just US$18, our group could buy the same Panama Hats that were selling for US$80 just up the street in the plaza.
Another place we find people making the city unique is the famous Calle de la Ronda in Quito.
Chez Tiff is an artisan chocolate shop where a father-and-daughter team shows us how their homemade passion fruit truffles are made. They use local Ecuadorian chocolate, and the result is delicious.
Later that evening we get to meet with a second Ecuadorian chocolatier, Pacari Chocolate.
They make single-origin organic chocolates, and over an excellent seafood dinner at Lua restaurant in Quito’s La Floresta neighborhood, their founder, Santiago Peralta, displays his passion for Ecuadorian chocolate and the cocoa plant as he tells us all about both.
And that’s to say nothing of Alexander Lau, the chef at Lua. As he makes us to-die-for ceviche and grills a type of fish related to the piranha—don’t worry, it doesn’t bite back—he talks about Ecuadorian cuisine and introduces us to new fruits like the taxo.
At the end of my two days in Quito, I have discovered a city full of passionate people contributing to a uniqueness that I never imagined.
From the touch of the limpia to the sight of the Panama Hat, the smell of the chocolates to the taste of the colaciones, Quito has impressed all of my senses. More than that, it has won over my jaded inner traveler.
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I can really tell you changed your camera, but you also improved a lot as a photographer! Great pics!
Thanks Chiara!
What a fantastic adventure!
Yeah, it was amazing!
Julia these are some of my favorite photos you’ve ever taken. I love the one of the woman holding a painting…send that into a magazine somewhere!! I may be visiting Ecuador in a few months with a friend from there and I will keep in mind all these great stops in the city!
Thanks Pam! I hope you enjoy Ecuador as much as I did!
I could have spent the entire 2 days sitting quietly at La Compania. Beautiful!
Yeah, it’s really beautiful!
Looks like a gorgeous city – La Compania looks stunning! I’d have loved the visit to the Ecuadorian chocolatier!
Yeah, the church was really pretty and the chocolate was delicious!
Yeah, Quinto sounds amazing! The ceviche watered my mouth! I’m sure the local culture is lovely to be appreciated (as I can see you did). Amazing pics, Julie! 🙂
Thanks!
Quito looks beautiful and full of character! Love Ceviche.. Must have been yum. And the chocolates sound good too!
Yeah, they were great!
Quito had never really been on my list either… until now. The first photo and last are definitely my favorites. I love those hats as well. Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience!
Happy travels 🙂
Thanks Lauren!
What lovely photos, they really capture the essence of Quito! I went to Quito a few years ago, staying as a guest of some ‘Quitenos’. I was really struck however by the poverty divide. The family I stayed with were upper middle class, spending thousands of dollars on golf club membership and employing maids and chauffeurs, and I was shocked that there was not really a middle ground between rich and poor! I would have loved to spent more time getting to know the poorer people, maybe next time!
Thanks! I hope you get to go back again someday!
Quito looks lovely in your photos. I hesitated to go there during my trip to Ecuador since I heard so many negative things about it being dangerous, etc. But now I kind of want to go back!
I hope you can go back someday. It was a great city to visit!