while the old city of quito has tremendous history, the action in quito happens in the new city – especially in la marsical around the plaza foch. we hung out around there and had some great ecuadorian cuisine at a restaurant called mama clarinda’s, and some gourmet hot chocolate at a very nice chocolate store.
quito is surrounded by the andes, and i took the world’s second-highest cable car called the teleferiqo to the top of a nearby mountain. at the top there was lots of great hiking (above the tree line), and amazing views over the 100 km north to south expanse that is quito. to get this view took a bit of a hike and then scaling an unmanned fire-tower.
i went to a very nice museum in the former home of ecuador’s most famous artist and perhaps most famous person, oswaldo guayasamin. the english tour of his home-turned-museum was led by local students and very informative. he also constructed a museum called the chapel of man beside his home.
quito has a burgeoning craft brew scene, so i checked out the abysmo brewery which was pretty good.
the coolest thing i did in quito was climb to the top of the massive national cathedral. the cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral in the western hemisphere and towers over quito. what is so cool about climbing to the top is how easy it would be to fall. you walk along a hanging bridge over the peak of the roof, then climb a very steep, slippery ladder to a tiny spire about 200 meters above quito. amazing!
