QUITO IN CHAOS

QUITO AND LA COPA LIBERTADORES

After crossing the Ecuadorian border, Cally and I spent 2 days in Otavalo, an indigenous community in the north of Ecuador. Then on Wednesday we made our way down to Quito, just 3 hours in bus from Otavalo. It was perfect timing since Wednesday night Quito played Rio de Janeiro in the championship game of la Copa Libertadores. Definitely the underdog, it was a shock when Quito actually won in penalty kicks. Brazil must not have been expecting it, since the confetti being blown were of Rio colors. They city went crazy, and after the win, everyone went partying in the plaza, so we figured it would be a great "cultural experience" to join them. It was like something out of a movie...drunk people everywhere, jumping on cars, throwing bottles, screaming...

QUITO, A TRANQUIL CITY WITH A MERE 3 MILLION

Quito, although a city of 3 million inhabitants, is only 1/3 the size of Bogotá, which makes it seem very calm for me. It is a very clean city, well-maintained.. The historical center, or the colonial part of the city, is the largest historical center of any latin american country. In the ´70s with the modernization movement many people wanted to tear down the old historical buildings and replace them with newer modern ones. There was much protest and in the end it never happened. However, they succeeded in taking down a few, and it is obvious when you look around and see beautiful colorful cultural buildings from the colonial period next to ugly ´70´s buildings all over.

LA MITAD DEL MUNDO

Today we spent most of our day at La Mitad del Mundo, or The Middle of the World. There you can straddle the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time while standing on the equator. Toilets flushing the opposite ways in the different hemispheres is a myth.

ONTO PERU

Now we are just waiting for our bus to leave in an hour for Huaquillas, a city on the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border. From Quito it will be a 12 hour drive, and we will cross in to Peru sometime tomorrow morning. Every day closer to Machu Picchu.....