My Ecuadorian Mini-Break

On my way to Brazil in January I took a little mini-break to Ecuador.  I was originally planning on going for 10 days, but my parents were a little worried about a white girl (me) traipsing around Ecuador by herself for 10 days.  I think it might have been me saying things like, "while I'm in Ecuador I might just pop up into Columbia for a day or two," that really got them worried.  I guess I should have kept my mouth shut.  


But, my parents' worries became my own and I spent sleepless nights wondering whether or not the money from the book deal I'd surely get after being captured by Columbian drug dealers would exceed the amount of ransom my parents would have to pay to get me back, or not.  And, in the end, I wasn't sure my 10 day solo trip to Ecuador would turn out to be a financially sound decision.  I don't know how much ransom Columbian drug dealers are charging these days.  And, to be honest, I don't know what book deals for Americans who get captured by Columbian drug dealers are bringing in either.  


So, I decided to change my ticket and go for only three days instead of 10.  That would give me enough time to see Quito and get a little taste of Ecuador, without having so much time on my hands that I'd be likely to wander out into enemy territory.  


The reason I wanted to go to Ecuador in the first place is because it's the last of the easily accessible South American countries for me to visit.  I've been to all the countries in South America except for Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.  


Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana aren't the most convenient countries to travel to.  And then there's the whole language barrier with Suriname and French Guiana as I don't speak a bit Dutch and the only thing I can say in French is "bon appétit," and I doubt that would be very helpful.  French Guiana isn't really a country anyway, but rather just a part of France so I couldn't even add it to my list of visited countries.  And, to be honest, I really don't know what there is to see in those countries except for jungle and maybe some waterfalls.  So, my visits to those places will have to wait for now.  


And, Venezuela and Columbia aren't maybe the smartest places for a blond, white, American girl to visit right now.  Especially since I'm very anti-socialist and I've been very clear about that on my blog.  I mean, who knows, Chávez could be one of my blog leeches and might know that I do not agree with his politics.  


So, anyway, back to Ecuador.  Quito is a pretty little city.  It's situated on a high plateau and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.  

















Quito is a colonial city and has many beautiful churches, convents, and other buildings built during the Spanish Colonial Era.  The churches and convents contain amazing art, some of which was brought from Spain, and other parts of Europe, and some which was created in the convents' own art schools in Quito.




This is the courtyard of the St. Francis convent, which was built in the 16th century.  

These next two pictures are scenes from the famous street in Quito called La Ronda.  It's a part of colonial Quito that has been very well preserved.  I love the little kid leaning out of the doorway, head resting on his soccer ball, just looking like he's waiting for his dad to get home from work to play with him.  So adorable!

This is a very typical Ecuadorian dish.  It looks kind of scary but was actually pretty decent.  The fried banana was a bit much.  I can handle a bite or two of fried banana, but that's about it.  The pork and avocado were excellent, as was the tomato/onion salad once I removed the onions.  Onions=yuck.  Mixed with the pork were three kinds of corn...basically fresh cooked corn kernels, a hominy type corn, and then a hard salty corn, which were basically CornNuts, with some ginormous beans thrown into the mix.  It was kinda weird but kinda good.  Not my favorite foreign cuisine ever, but definitely several thousand steps above Ghanaian food.  Ghanaian food=double yuck!

Here's one of the pretty churches in Quito.  They have tons of beautiful churches but I didn't carry my camera with me a lot of the time when I was in the old part of the city because a lot of the old city is kind of sketchy and I didn't want to attract anymore attention to myself than I already was as a white blondy traveling solo.  So, I really didn't take too many pictures.  But, the city is quite beautiful.  You'll just have to believe me, or go there yourself to see.  

Here's just another view of Quito.                                                                                                 

I've wanted to go to the equator for a long time.  And, although I've been really close to the equator a few times, I'd never actually been to the equator. And, what better place to visit the equator than Ecuador?  

The equator is only about 25 km north of Quito's city center.  You can take a taxi to La Mitad del Mundo (which means "the middle of the world") monument for about 40 dollars or take the local bus for 40 cents.  I opted for the 40 cent plan.  Not only because I'm cheap and poor, but mostly because, if I wasn't going to be kidnapped by Columbian drug lords, I at least needed to do something slightly adventurous during my time in Ecuador.  

It was fun taking the bus.  I was the only non-local on the bus and I made several friends because of it on my way to the equator.  I had to change buses a couple of times and for one of the legs of the journey the bus fare was 15 cents.  I asked the girl next to me if the school kids have to pay for the bus fare (because they don't have school buses but just ride the city buses).  She said that they did, but that they only paid half price.  I wonder if they have to pay 7 cents or 8 cents.  Hmmm.  

Anyway, here are my pictures of the equator.  

I first went to the La Mitad del Mundo monument where scientists in the 1970's said the location of the equator was.  But now recent GPS data shows the true equator to be about 240 meters north of La Mitad del Mundo monument...right where the Indians supposedly always said it was.  Those dang Indians are always right about stuff like that!  


So at the "true equator" line they have a little Indian museum called the Intiñan Solar Museum.  It was a really interesting little museum.  They have shrunken heads (of real dead people), which quite honestly, I didn't even know were a real thing.  Before visiting the Intiñan Solar Museum I just thought that shrunken heads were something someone made up for the Indiana Jones movies.  I had no idea that Amazonian Indians (and Nazis) really shrunk heads.  Crazy.  


They also explain more about the equator and explain and demonstrate the Coriolis Effect as well as other scientific phenomenon.  Very interesting. 












































Anyway, I really enjoyed the little bit of Ecuador I was able to see during my mini-break to Quito.  The people are nice and friendly (sometimes a little too friendly), the scenery is beautiful, and the history is intriguing.  


One thing I found interesting is that Ecuador doesn't have it's own currency.  They just use US dollars.  They do mint their own coins but they are the same values and shapes as our coins and they use our coins and their coins interchangeably.  I've been to a few countries, like Belize for example, where they accept US dollars pretty much every where, but they still have their own currency too.  I've never been to a country that just doesn't even have a currency of their own.  Well, I guess except for Zimbabwe, but that is because their economy is completely messed up right now.  


I think it's brilliant/kind of moochy of Ecuador to use the US dollar.  They don't have to pay to print money, to develop new currency designs, to destroy old money, etc.  Haaaaaaaaaa they stick it to the American taxpayer to pay for all of that, while they enjoy the benefits of a stable (or somewhat stable) currency.  Dang those Indians are smart.  


Oh, and in case you're wondering where all of the Sacagawea one dollar coins that our government minted in 2000 and that never really caught on in America are...well, the answer is Ecuador.  Within hours of being in Ecuador I had nearly 20 of them that I'd received as change.  Ecuadorians love Sacagawea dollars.  


Tons of our coins and small bills are tied up just in the bus system of Ecuador.  So think of that next time you lick a dollar bill!  


Anyway, Ecuador is definitely on my list of places to return to with more time and more people.  I really want to go to the Galapagos Islands someday.  But it's pretty expensive to travel there, so I'll have to wait until I'm old and rich...or at least old.