Hasta, Manta y hola, Quito.

In a fitting end to my time in Manta the lights went out across the city just as Sra and I were heading out the door to go to the bus station. (The station was just a block away but, ever the gracious hostess, she insisted on walking me there and carrying my daypack. It was so nice that I almost didn't care that she was banging my bag - and my camera - all over the place... Almost.)

This was not uncommon though. The lights went out at the house often and Tia placed candles strategically around "just in case" ("por si acaso"). That night, in addition to the pitch black it also started to rain. After two weeks of taxis beeping incessantly, dogs barking and roosters crowing, and TVs blaring, it was nice to roll out of town in pitch dark to the sound of rain on the window. I have some fond memories of Manta and that is one of them.

I was mildly worried about taking a night bus for my first long bus ride, but this was an "executive" line (read: an additional dollar for your ticket buys you added security - AND a cup of Coke and a package of cookies as well, because wouldn't YOU want a sugar high as you embarked upon an 8 hour overnight bus ride? I know the 3 year old sitting in front of me did!). The only incident involved two policemen who came aboard about an hour outside of Quito, harassed a passenger for five minutes, then walked off the bus (leaving the passenger on the bus). They were speaking quickly and I couldn't follow what was happening, but no one else seemed concerned so I went with the "when in Rome" theory and followed their lead. But I didn't go back to sleep.

Quito, day 1: Because I was getting in so early and expected to have had little to no sleep, and because I had essentially spent five weeks with people (!), I treated myself to a single room at a "hotel" near Mariscal Sucre (aka "gringolandia"). For $20 I got a large room with two beds and private bath, a huge breakfast, cable and DVDs...

home for two days

... and all-hour access to THE cutest kitten. That alone was worth every penny.

look at that FACE! (the cat's, not mine)

After settling in, one of the other guests offered to show me around so we wandered through Parque El Ejido (a huge park with tons of craft merchants and street artists) and I found hostels for the rest of the week.

Parque El Ejido

We had lunch at El Cafecito (spinach crepe = YUM!), at which point I got tired of my companion's whining (note to self: find some females/nonAmericans to hang out with...!) and went back to my room to rest. The "hotel" overlooked the mountains as well as the Sanctuary of El Guapulo, rumored to be the oldest church in Quito, so later I walked down streets so steep they would embarrass San Francisco to have a look.

Sanctuary of El Guapulo from the top

Sanctuary of El Guapulo from the bottom

Along the way were the most interesting murals and some amazing views.

wall aht, part I

wall aht, part II

wall aht, part III

Time out #1: I haven't even mentioned... Quito? It's GREEN. And high in the mountains. I think I'm at 3000m right now... whatever that means. :) The days are pleasant, maybe 75 degrees, and at night I get cold. No mosquitoes, no humidity, no cold shower only to start sweating again 10 minutes later, no fan pointed at me 24/7. Heaven. Just waiting for the head cold to kick in!

from my room with a view

flowers in the "hotel" garden

Time out #2: Quito honors historic days by naming streets after the date. It felt a little odd at first, telling the taxi driver to take me to "Avenue 6 de Diciembre" or "Avenue 10 de Agosto"... There's also lots of graffiti referencing historical dates.

Time out #3: They recently changed their street address system. Most homes and businesses have both addresses, which makes it verrrrry confusing when you're trying to find a place.

donde estoy? no se.

Okay, so day 2: headed to Old Town for an abridged walking tour. Quito's old town is beautiful. The whole city is lovely, actually. It was declared "a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America." (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

Anyway, it was Palm Sunday so people were out and about en masse. (And in mass, of course...)

Plaza Grande

Plaza and Monastery of San Francisco

I got my fill of the Plazas as well as some amazing empanadas con verde (YUM), then decided to skip the taxi ride to El Panecillo and go to Basilica del Voto Nacional. Why pay $8 to see "the only Madonna depicted with wings" when you can pay $2 to see a church decked out with iguanas, turtles, bears and anteaters instead of angels?

looks like your average cathedral... until you get close

This church also offered walks up the towers for really nice views of the city - and the winged Madonna statue - now how much would you pay?

El Panecillo between the towers

Quito from above

Finally, hit the Vivarium in Parque de Carolina, a well done exhibit featuring about 80 Amazonian/otherwise local critters (and an all-female staff - not sure which was rarer).

I may be the only person who seeks out vivariums in foreign countries - I'm OK with that

snake demo

Ended the day by figuring out how to take a pretty darned amazing moon photo...

we really like tha moon

All in all a good couple of days. Ready to go higher though - Cotopaxi, here I come...