Old Town
The old town is in the south part of Quito. Many of the buildings date back to colonial times and have beautiful old streets and buildings to show for it. The old town is packed with history and many old churched and small squares. The whole old town of Quito has been declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978. UNESCO saw it in such importance, it was the first World Culture Heritage Site in the world.
The old town looks like something out of a movie, beauty and history waiting for you to explore it. there are many parts of the old town that I would like to key in on. La Ronda is a street in the south part of the old town, it is incredibly walkable and filled with restaurants, bars, and small shops. La Ronda used to be an old bohemian neighborhood and to this day the bohemian feel is still there. It is best to visit at night for dinner, a drink or two, and dancing.
Plaza Grande is the central part of the old town and is the center piece to the crown. An old timey feeling plaza that has a church on the north and south sides, with the presidential palace on the west side, and the east side has a city government building. In the center of the plaza is a statue to commemorate Quito and Ecuador’s history. this plaza is well worth taking a break at having a small lunch or snack and people watching at. There are many museums and churches, some worth noting are Church of Saint Francis, Church of Society of Jesus, City Museum, and Pre-Colombian Art House
Food
Who does not love food? To be honest Quito is no food heaven but its growing and still taste dang good and you can save a lot of money on it. So, I'll address the elephant in the room, do they eat guinea pig in Ecuador? Well... yes and no. Let me explain, so they used to eat it before chicken, cow, and pig where introduced to the area. Now a day’s people do not eat that day in day out, it more of a specialty and for tourist. Yes I did try some, while in Rome right? I taste like chicken but fattier and with more bones. It was not good enough that I would try it again, but I'm happy I did try it.
One other thing Quito is known for are its specials called "almuerzos". Yes, that is Spanish for lunch, and that is exactly what it is. In most small restaurants in the lunch hours they have special meals planned out. Almuerzoes are made for the working class and are at a working-class price, usually 2 to 3 dollars. The almuerzo is set on what you get but sometimes you can choice between two different meats. They start you off with a soup, usually containing chicken, rice, vegetables, and lots of cilantro. Your drink will be whatever juice or smoothie they made fresh. The main course will have a meat, vegetable, and a potatoes, rice, or plantain.
The main part of dishes in Quito is a meat like chicken, beef, goat, and seafood. They usually have a side of fries, rice, or plantains. Plantains can be made in so many ways and they can taste so good. The main dish will also come with a small salad, by salad it can be a real salad to tomatoes with onions to broccoli. The dishes are about half the price that dish would cost in America. Because of the tropical climate near Quito, they are blessed with a plethora of fruits, many that I've never heard of. I am not the biggest fan of fruit but people have told me the fruits are so fresh and tasty.
Teleferico
One thing that makes Quito such a beautiful city is its close proximity to the mountains. Quito is in a large skinny valley about 4 miles wide but over 50 miles long. When you are in the city it’s easy to see the mountains on each side of you but to get a better understanding of the city and its location and sounding geography, you should take a trip up the Teleferico. This cable car takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the top, as you increase in elevation by about 2,500 feet. The views from here are incredible, no picture can do it justice. From here you can be above clouds or in them, watch them flow around the city and over another mountain. At one point I could see the city, some clouds above it coming down a mountain, and the rest of that mountain peeking out of the clouds.
There’s some hiking you can do to get some new views of the city or the mountain. I would give your body two or three days to adjust to the altitude before you push it even more up here. This can also give you some time to get away from the craziness of the city.
It is best to go early in the morning when there is less of a chance for the fog to roll in, unfortunately sometimes there’s nothing you can do about the fog and just have to deal with it.
