Exploring Ecuador: Quito

We spent five months living in Ecuador while helping an organization named ITEC (more on this later). We spent our first few days exploring Quito where we'd found a nice high rise apartment on Airbnb with floor to ceiling windows, a gym on the first floor and a lovely rooftop lounge with a view of downtown.

The place in Quito that I was most looking forward to visiting was Pichincha Volcano, but at nearly 16,000 ft elevation, we were advised to wait a few days to first acclimate to Quito's 10,000ft elevation. In the meantime we discovered some interesting places.

Our first stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church in Old Town. This, the largest church in Quito, was constructed in 1892 and features animals like frigatebirds and tortoises instead of gargoyles on the exterior.

To reach the lookout tower, you had to walk this path then climb quite a few very steep staircases. I was the only one that went all the way to the top.

The virgin on El Panecillo can be seen from the church. Just look on top of the hill between the two towers.

Historical Old Town is filled with narrow, steeply-sloped streets and tiny sidewalks.

Our apartment's location next to Carolina Park, gave us lots of opportunities to enjoy multiple nearby parks and a short walk to the grocery store. Grocery shopping in other countries is always a fun experience to see what new items are available. My kids especially love the fruit section.

The dairy section in this store in Quito was HUGE and the variety of eggs filled an entire aisle. Asher was excited to try some quail eggs. By the way, none of the eggs are refrigerated. 

And lollipops the size of their heads! Nope, sorry kids.

Even though it was February, the midday sun was quite warm and a t-shirt was sufficient, but mornings and evenings we needed a fleece or jacket. We later learned that while most of Ecuador has similar weather year around, Quito experiences more extreme weather fluctuations including flooding, snow, and ice storms. Our last morning I took a trip to the San Jorge Eco Lodge to walk their trails looking for birds. I was not disappointed!

I also visited the serpentarium to see the local species of snakes. Once we arrived in Shell, I was lucky enough to meet a man who supplied most of the animals on display there. In the past he would pay indigenous people $1 to bring the snakes they came across to him instead of killing them. He would keep them in his own collection or release them in a safer area away from people. Eventually he was no longer allowed to give anything in exchange, so unfortunately more snakes are being killed again. The time came to give up his collection, so he sent the snakes to Quito for display and educational purposes. 

Asher was very curious about Ecuador. In this photo he was writing down the population of Quito and comparing it to Florida, a fun world schooling memory for me.