ECUADOR: QUITO AND MINDO
June 5, 2025
Hostal La Terraza
Quito, Ecuador
 |
| Morning Over Panama |
I left Puerto Vallarta in the late afternoon of June 3rd and flew to Los Angeles. This was definitely the scenic route, but I wanted to avoid spending the night in Mexico City. I was shocked to have to spend $22 for cheap Chinese food at Panda Express in the airport. That night, I took a red-eye flight to Panama City. I had a new, wrap-around travel pillow and a window seat and actually got to sleep for a few hours. I had a four-hour layover in Panama City, which gave me time for coffee and breakfast. The Panama City airport is huge and filled with shops. I didn’t buy anything, but there was plenty to see. There were two flights to Quito that day and they left from opposite ends of the vast airport. I misread the monitor and had walked almost all the way to one gate before I realized I had looked at the wrong flight and had to turn around and walk to the other end of the airport. My flight left from the very last gate. Fortunately, I had plenty of time.
I arrived in Quito about 12:30. I had arranged a driver to take me to my hostel and she was waiting with my name on a sign when I arrived. Knowing absolutely nothing about Ecuador, at that point, it was a relief to see her. As it turned out, Quito has good roads and modern infrastructure. I probably could have gotten to town by myself but, for less than $23, I got a private driver door to door. It was about a 45 minute drive in traffic and I was a little tired, so I couldn’t complain.
The Hostal La Terraza was nice enough, although a bit chilly. There was no heat, but there was hot water and a comfortable bed in a decent location for $27 per night including a hot breakfast. I took a shower and intended to go out to explore, but it had started to rain. I took an hour’s nap and, by that time, it had stopped raining. Quito is at 9,350 feet in the Andes and, even though it was supposed to be the dry season, afternoon showers were common. Thunder made it hard to sleep.
I had a couple of tours booked for the following day and wanted to find where the bus stops were, so I set off down the 200 steps to the main road and walked to the historic center. My walk took me through busy shopping areas. I knew that one of the tours left from the Plaza Grande, so I headed there. I circumnavigated the plaza and saw no bus stops. Actually, vehicular traffic appeared to be prohibited, so I then circumnavigated it, again, one block outside the plaza and still didn’t see anything. Many of the major pedestrian walkways were paved with bricks and painted yellow.
 |
| Steps to My Hostel |
At the equator, the sun rises at 6:00 and sets at 18:00 all year round. Night always seems to fall rapidly. I wanted to get back to my room before dark, so I didn’t have much time to explore. I made it up the 200 stairs to my hostel just before dark.
 |
| The Plaza Grande |
I had been served a full meal on the flight in the middle of the night and had eaten breakfast, so I really wasn’t hungry. I munched an ancient Lara bar I found in my hydration pack and settled down to watch Netflix. I was asleep by 22:00.
My first full day in Quito began with coffee, eggs, and a slab of panela (In Mexico, such cheese is called "panela." In Ecuador, "panela" is a type of sugar.) inserted into a lovely, crusty pastry. The breakfast was served on the rooftop and the room had a great view of Quito and the basilica. While the basilica is much more impressive, it is not the cathedral of Quito. I had walked past the Metropolitan Cathedral of Quito off the Plaza Grande without giving it much notice.
 |
| View from the Roof of My Hostel |
I had a ticket for a city tour at 9:00 and it left from the modern, northern part of Quito. As I didn’t want to walk six kilometers, I decided to take the metro. I hustled down the stairs and a short distance down the Alameda to the metro station. I bought a ticket for 45 cents. The official currency of Ecuador is the U.S. dollar, which made things easy. If I had known that back in Mexico, I could have brought the dollars sitting in my safe. Fortunately, I realized it while I was at LAX and picked up some dollars from an ATM, there.
 |
| The Quito Metro |
I didn’t remember which stop I needed and hadn’t yet figured out how to connect to the WiFi in the metro, so I got off at the wrong station and had to buy another ticket and wait for another train. By the time I got to my stop, it was nearly 9:00. I didn’t see the bus, anywhere, so I followed Google Maps to where the stop was supposed to be, but couldn’t find it. I waited about 20 minutes for a bus and was about to give up when I spotted one across the street, very close to the metro station. It turned out to be one of those hop-on-hop off tours and there was a little office on the opposite side of the boulevard from where Google Maps had sent me. I raced across six lanes of traffic, only to find that what I had seen was actually the 10:00 bus. The woman in the office assured me that my ticket for 9:00 was fine.
There was a group of about ten retired gym friends from Quito who were taking the tour to celebrate the birthday of one of the women. I chatted with them and they were quite friendly. They kept shouting, “Viva la cumpleanera!” at every opportunity.
 |
| Modern Quito |
Our tour began to the north of Quito in the financial district. Quito is shaped like a banana. It is 70 kilometers long and only 6 kilometers wide because it is built in a canyon. To the west are the twin peaks of the Pichincha volcano. They are nearly 4800 meters high and often shrouded in clouds. A cable car runs to the top and I wished for another day in Quito so that I could take it.
We traveled south past El Parque Carolina and through Mariscal Sucre, where the wealthy from Quito once had country homes outside the city. In the early twentieth century, this became the northernmost neighborhood of Quito. Three thousand European Jews relocated there to escape from Nazi Germany. It was an area full of craft markets and all kinds of ethnic restaurants. I looked longingly at Indian and Thai restaurants as we passed through. It had become clear than my phone battery would not make it through the tour, so I took few photos.
 |
| La Basilica del Voto Nacional |
We stopped at the basilica. If I had not missed the 9:00 bus, I would have gotten off and visited the church, but I was worried that I would miss my 14:30 tour if I did so, so I had to settle for snapping a few photos. From there, I could pick out my hostel on the hillside across the valley. We continued on past the flower market. Ecuador is the second largest producer of roses in the world. A hundred roses cost only $5 in Quito. Quito is a popular destination for weddings, between the many beautiful churches and the cheap flowers.
Our next stop was the Church of San Francisco. The 40,000 square meter church complex, begun in 1535, is the largest in the Americas. It is filled with 3500 works of colonial art and I regretted having to pass up visiting it. I began to consider abandoning the long trek to Cuenca in order to spend a few more days in Quito.
 |
| The Virgin of Panecillo |
From the historic center we climbed up the hill to the Virgin of El Panecillo. The hill is named “El Panecillo” because it is shaped like a little loaf of bread. At 41 meters tall, the statue surpasses even Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. It is the tallest aluminum statue in the world. It was modeled after a 30cm tall figure carved from wood by Bernardo de Legarda in 1732. The original resides in the Church of San Franisco. While it appears to be an angel, it is actually the Virgin Mary sporting wings and doing battle with a demon in the form of a serpent. It is visible from all over central Quito. The view from the top of the hill was great, but my camera had died, so I got no photos.
We returned to the north of Quito via a series of tunnels running beneath the western neighborhoods of Quito. Near to our final stop, I spotted a Pollo Campero, my favorite fast food chicken restaurant. The chain originated in Guatemala. While there are locations in southern Mexico, I have never seen one in the Vallarta area. I walked back over there for lunch. Then I made a quick stop at the bus office to determine where to meet the bus for the next day’s tour to Cotopaxi.
It had been quick to buy metro tickets at the Alameda and Pradera stations, but the line at the Iniquitos station was so long that they kept us waiting in the underground passageways and only let about 30 people at a time into the ticketing area. I must have waited for half an hour and started to worry about missing my next tour. By the time I got back to my neighborhood, I had to hurry up the 200 stairs to my room to use the bathroom, put sunscreen on my poor, sunburned (the sun is strong at 9000 feet) nose, grab an additional battery for my phone, and rush off to meet my next tour. Fortunately, I made it with ten minutes to spare. If I came back to Quito, I would stay in a different hostel without so many stairs.
There were sixteen passengers on my tour to La Mitad del Mundo. It was a very mixed group of mostly young people from England, Israel, Germany, Norway, Australia, the USA, France, and Chile. Many of them had been in South America for months and I learned a lot from talking with them. It took us about an hour to drive to the equator at La Mitad del Mundo.
 |
| Intinan Solar Museum |
Our first stop was the Intinan Solar Museum. There, we saw live Guinea pigs and native art. I was surprised to see numerous totem poles. The museum is located on the equator and our guide showed us a number of anomalies that occur there. He used a sink that drained into a bucket to demonstrate that on the equator, water drains straight down, while in the northern hemisphere it circles the drain counterclockwise and in the southern hemisphere, it circles the opposite direction. We spent some time trying to balance an egg on a nail. My hands weren’t steady enough to pull it off. Those who succeeded were proclaimed “egg masters.”
 |
| Totem Pole |
Our guide explained that, on the equator, there are really only two seasons: wet and dry. The seasons are better defined by agricultural practices. The planting season runs from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. The growing season runs from the spring equinox to the summer solstice. Next, comes the harvest season from the summer solstice to the fall equinox, and last is the fallow season. Weather is determined more by elevation than time of year. Our guide also showed us a sundial (not working because it was cloudy) and explained that sun time was currently a few minutes slow from official time because it does not take into account leap years.
 |
| Our Guide Explaining Solar Time |
Apparently, our bodies are used to the force exerted by the spinning of the earth. We tried to walk along the equator with our eyes closed and found it very difficult to balance without that force. A human body weighs a pound or two less at the equator.
 |
| Trying to Balance on the Equator |
After visiting the museum, we walked over to the equator monument. Nobody from our group wanted to pay the $5 to enter the area of the monument, but we spent a few minutes admiring it from afar, snapping photos, and enjoying the mountain scenery. The 30-meter tall monument was built between 1979 and 1982 and replaced a smaller, earlier monument constructed in 1936. It commemorates the first Geodesic Mission of the French Academy of Sciences in 1736.
 |
| The Equator Monument |
The group was much quieter on the return to Quito, although we perked up a bit when we finished the tour with a shot of canelazo, a hot alcoholic drink made with orange juice and cinnamon. We sipped our drinks in the rooftop bar of a hostel across the street from where I would meet the next day’s bus. It was starting to get dark, so I hurried back to my hostel. It wasn’t far, although I still had to climb the 200 steps.
Once again, I wasn’t very hungry, having stuffed myself with chicken and fries at lunch. I nibbled on a cereal bar and sat down to write.
June 6, 2025
Hostal La Terraza
Quito, Ecuador
I left Quito at 7:30 in the morning to head to Cotopaxi National Park. I knew the elevation would be high (the headquarters is at 11,500’) and that there was hiking involved, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
 |
| Farmland in Mejia |
We drove south out of Quito through the industrial part of the city and soon entered the Canton of Mejia, an area known for milk products, vegetables (nearly all the veggies in Ecuador come from there), and roses. Everything was very green. We stopped for breakfast in Machachi, the cowboy capital of Ecuador. I knew better than to eat anything fatty, so just bought a coffee and some dry biscuits. We followed the Pan-American Highway until we crossed from the province of Pichincha into the province of Cotopaxi and then turned off to head for the park. On the way to the park, we stopped at a small stand to drink a cup of coca tea and buy coca candies. By this point, I had learned that we were going to climb to the Cotopaxi base camp at 15,593’. This was only the half of it.
 |
Coca Stand
|
We stopped at the museum near the park entrance to learn about the mountain. At 19, 347’, Cotopaxi is the second highest active volcano in the world, surpassed only by Chimborazo, also in Ecuador, at 20,371’. The base camp was once located on the glacier, but the glacier has retreated in the past forty years and the snow line is now above 17,000’. There is a potential supervolcano on the slope of Cotopaxi that could conceivably wipe out all of Ecuador in 20 minutes if it erupted. There has not been an eruption in 200,000 years, but it is active, much like Yellowstone.
 |
| Our Group at the Cotopaxi Museum |
From the park entrance, we drove through a private pine tree farm and then into the paramo (a sort of Andean tundra.) We stopped at Laguna de Limpiopungo, where the indigenous people would take freezing baths at night to purify themselves. We took a short nature walk and looked at native plants, such as lupine and valerian. There were a lot of wildflowers. As we drove from the lake to the volcano we came across a large herd of wild horses. The volcano was shrouded in clouds.
 |
| Wild Horses at Cotopaxi |
 |
| Laguna Limpiopungo |
The parking lot was at 14,300 feet. The wind was so strong that we were informed that we could not take the usual, switchback trail to the base camp. We would have to go straight up a gully that was protected from the wind. The route was called “Rompecorazon” or “heart breaker.” It was steep and nearly all loose volcanic material. This was fortunate because it rained most of the way and the route drained well and didn’t become muddy.
 |
| Climbing Cotopaxi |
It was tough going. We would climb about fifty steps and then stop to breathe. I had only had two days to acclimate and would have needed at least a week. I had taken a pill to help me acclimatize the night before, but lost my breakfast somewhere around 15,000’. I drank a few sips of water, sucked on a coca candy, felt better after that, and pressed on. I was the oldest in the group and, in the end, I reached the base camp in the middle of the pack. Our youngest member was actually last, but he had just arrived from England the night before. It was very cold, but not quite freezing. The wind was even stronger at that elevation. At times, it nearly blew me over. The Refugio at the base camp was warm and offered hot drinks and snacks, although I stuck to water. We rested until everyone caught up and then took some pictures with the elevation sign (15,953’.)
 |
| Group Photo at Cotopaxi Base Camp |
Getting down was much easier. The ground was soft and I would have run if I had trusted my muscles to support me. I still made it down in about 20 minutes. I was pretty damp by the time I reached the bus.
 |
| The Refugio at Cotopaxi Base Camp |
The volcano peeked in and out of the clouds on our way down, but my phone had died by then. I remembered to bring a spare battery, but had left the cable behind. We saw some wild llamas on our way down.
We stopped for a very nice lunch just outside the park boundary. The altitude was still messing with my appetite and I only ate a few bites of my spaghetti, but I enjoyed the hot chicken soup and plaintain fritters (patacones) with excellent guacamole. To drink, we had juice made from tomate de agua, a fruit that looks like an orange tomato, but tastes fruity.
I could barely keep my eyes open on the ninety minute drive back to Quito. It was pouring rain when they dropped me off at a nearby hostel. I still had to climb the 200 steps to my room. It hadn’t gotten any easier. I wanted to pack, but had too many wet things. Instead, I rested for a couple of hours, changed a number of reservations to spend a few more days in Quito at a hotel without the stairs, and then sat down to write.
June 8, 2025
The Temple I
Mindo, Ecuador
 |
| View from La Terraza |
On Saturday, I enjoyed the lovely breakfast provided by my hotel and then called an Uber to take me to the Ofelia bus station north of Quito. Uber told me to meet at the pickup point on Valparaiso. I knew that Valparaiso was at the bottom of the first flight of stairs. It seemed like a logical pickup place, so I dragged my bags down there. Little did I know that Valparaiso also had an offshoot that came up to my hotel. The Uber was up and I was down. I didn’t want to drag my bags back up and she didn’t want to circle around on the one-way streets. She cancelled the ride. I couldn’t get an Uber to meet me at the bottom of the steps, so I slowly dragged my bags back up about 30 stairs and called another Uber. By the time I got to the bus station, I had missed the 9:00 bus.
 |
| Driving to Mindo |
If it had been a weekday, there would have been an 11:00 bus, but the next bus on a Saturday was at 13:00. There were five of us who had missed the bus. The bus company kindly arranged taxis to take us to the next stop and the bus waited for us. I got to Mindo as planned.
The trip to Mindo took us back north to La Mitad del Mundo and then we crossed over the mountains and down through the jungle for about 90 minutes to Mindo. When Google maps told me I had passed the turnoff for my hotel, I got off the bus. A $2 taxi ride took me a mile up a dirt road to the lodge where I had reserved a room.
 |
| My Lodge in Mindo |
My room was gorgeous. It was very spacious and had a large bathroom and a walk-in closet larger than a European hotel room. Windows spanned two sides with views of the mountains and tropical garden. A veranda ran around three sides of the upper floor where my room was located. Everything was built from tropical hardwood. My only complaint was that the floors creaked badly whenever anyone walked on them.
 |
| My Room at the Temple I |
I tried to take a nap, but toucans called lettered aracaris kept attacking their reflections in my windows. They slammed into the windows and pecked at the glass. It was impossible to sleep. By 14:00. I gave up and walked back into Mindo. My first stop was a local travel agency. They were very friendly and showed me videos of the local attractions. I booked visits to a butterfly sanctuary, an adventure park with waterfalls, ziplines, and a canopy cable car, a night tour, and a taco tasting – all for $38. The 2.5 hour bus ride from Quito cost $3.60 and three nights in my gorgeous room, including breakfast, set me back only $111. That was pricy for Ecuador, but I splurged on what turned out to be a vacation from my vacation.
I explored the town of Mindo, locating the bus terminal and places I might want to eat. I had an ice cream and then sat in a hotel bar, sipping a decaf latte and using the WiFi until it was time for my taco tasting. Tacos are not native to Ecuador but Renato, the chef at Taco Verde, used them an a vehicle to offer small portions of Ecuadorian favorites. He made small, corn tortillas by hand. I couldn’t eat all six of them, but they were very tasty. It was all I could do to eat all of the fillings. I sampled shrimp with coconut, slow-cooked beef, chicharron with lupine beans, sausage with egg, tuna, and carmelized pineapple with cheese. Everything was very tasty and I left stuffed. I walked back up the hill to my lodge, The Temple I, in the rain, arriving just before dark.
 |
| Pineapple & Cheese |
 |
| Tuna |
 |
| Egg & Chorizo |
 |
| Chicharron & Chocho |
 |
| Shrimp Cocada |
I was tired, but it was Saturday night and there was a noisy family in the room beside me. I would have been asleep by 20:00, but they kept me awake until 22:00. By that point, I could have slept through a nuclear attack.
I managed to sleep until 8:00 on Sunday morning. Breakfast was served from 8:30 to 9:30, so I couldn’t lie about any longer. I got up, showered, and re-braided my hair. There was hot water, but it came and went, making it hard to wash my hair. The downside to my room was that the bathroom was also all glass. Fortunately, no one was prowling about the veranda while I showered. The curtains in my room didn’t quite cover all of the windows, either.
 |
| Attack Horse |
It was 10:00 by the time I left my lodge. Having wanted to sleep in, I decided to leave the adventure park for the next day and set off up the road to walk the 4 kilometers to the butterfly sanctuary. But first, I had to get out of the lodge’s driveway, which was guarded by a loose, attack horse who attempted to bite me several times. He appeared to be about a year old and may have been trying to play.
One of my reasons for coming to Mindo was to enjoy the exotic plants. I took my time and stopped to photograph the many flowers I encountered along the way. My way took me over a hill, down to the river, and then climbed up to the sanctuary. Coming from Mexico, I was pleased at the lack of litter. This was a protected area and even loud noises were discouraged. Unfortunately, the road was popular with ATV tours and I constantly had to dodge groups of inexperienced riders.
 |
| Mindo Flowers |
 |
| Orchids |
 |
| Giant Hibiscus |
 |
| Red Bananas |
The weather in Mindo is fairly predictable, but odd. It is nicest in the morning. The sun comes out and it gets warm. About 13:00 it clouds up, a breeze stirs, and it gets cool and rainy. It might then warm up a bit in the late afternoon. It is difficult to decide what to wear.
 |
| Chrysalises Waiting to Hatch |
I got to the butterfly sanctuary about 11:00. A young man named Silvio showed me the greenhouse where the butterflies were raised. He showed me through the stages of their life cycle from eggs through larvae (caterpillars) to chrysalis to butterflies. The chrysalises were hung in neat rows and looked like pairs of earrings for sale. Each species had its own form of protection or camouflage. Some looked like dried leaves, others appeared to be metallic. When the butterflies hatched, they took some time for the lymph to pump into their wings as they unfolded. The wings then had to dry and be exercised until they were strong enough to fly. Numerous butterflies had emerged and were hanging out. I neglected to ask how they were transferred to the butterfly enclosure.
 |
| Ojo de Buho Caterpillars |
The largest species was the Ojo de Buho, or Owl’s Eye. Those caterpillars were six inches long and velvety to the touch, although they looked alien. They loved to eat bananas. The butterfly enclosure was filled with flowering plants whose nectar the butterflies liked to drink. One butterfly seemed to like drinking my sweat and spent some minutes licking my arm. A glasswing rested on my shoe. I had to keep shooing the big Ojo de Buhos away from my glasses where they seemed to want to perch. Visitors wearing yellow were covered in butterflies. It was almost as much fun watching the people as it was watching the butterflies. I spent about an hour there.
 |
| Ojo de Buhos Eating Bananas |
 |
| Glasswing |
 |
| Blue Morpho |
 |
| Heliconia Doris |
On my walk back to the lodge, I decided to pick up what little litter there was. In 4 kilometers I only picked up about 8 plastic bottles. In Mexico, I would have filled trash bags.
 |
| More Exotic Flowers |
 |
| These Were Common |
 |
| Heliconia |
 |
| Interesting |
I spent most of the afternoon lying in the hammock on the veranda, reading, and photographing the aracaris. At 16:00, I walked back into town. Unfortunately, I had received a text from my travel agency telling me that the adventure park was closed the next day. I had to exchange my voucher for an ornithological park. Given that the next day looked like rain, this was not too disappointing. More unfortunately, it was starting to look like there would not be a night tour before I left, but I had one more night to hope.
 |
| Aracari Posing |
After visiting the travel agency, I ate a dinner of falafel and watermelon juice at a Persian restaurant. Then I bought a beer and a small packet of cookies and headed home. I also bought some powdered milk, the closest thing I could find to creamer. That morning, I had been served the weirdest milk I had ever seen. It didn’t even turn the coffee a lighter color when added. I think it may have been evaporated milk with water added. Whatever it was, it was gross. I needed to try something else.
I walked back up the road, didn’t see the attack horse, and sat on the veranda, drinking my beer until it got dark. Then I retired inside to write.
June 9, 2025
The Temple I
Mindo, Ecuador
 |
| Pavo Real |
 |
| Carp in the Pond |
Since my visit to the Punto Ornithologico had no fixed start time, I ate breakfast at my lodge and then set off to walk to my destination about 10:00. It was a nice half hour walk to the site. From the entrance, I was directed down a steep trail through the jungle to a grassy area near the river with some fish ponds and a couple of haphazard buildings containing a few hotel rooms and topped by viewing platforms, There were carp in the ponds and a few turtles and peacocks.
 |
| Pond Lilies At Punto Ornithologico |
 |
| View from Viewing Platform |
 |
| Owl Disguised as a Branch |
 |
| Blue Headed Finch |
 |
| Scenery from the Tower |
 |
| Hummingbird Feeding from My Hand |
I didn’t see much from the first tower I climbed. I finally spotted one yellowish bird that might have been an oriole. I climbed back down and wandered around some paths through the jungle by the river. One of the employees pointed out an owl disguised as a broken tree branch. I saw some kind of freshly dug burrow and wondered what lived there.
 |
| Another Exotic Flower |
Up to that point, the plants were more interesting than the birds and I saw more exotic flowers. Eventually, I worked my way back to the platform where I entered and was given the chance to feed hummingbirds from a capful of nectar in my hand. A slender viewing platform sat atop a spiral staircase and, from there, I was finally able to see lots of birds. Besides the ever-present hummingbirds, I saw parakeets, blue headed finches, and orioles. I stayed up there for at least half an hour and got some decent photographs. The scenery wasn’t too shabby, either. I could have seen the summit of Pichincha if it hadn’t been shrouded in clouds.
 |
| Glowing Daddy Long Legs |
At 6:30, my ride arrived to take me to the “frog concert.” Mindo Lago is a lovely hotel set on a small lake. It was once a cow pasture, but the owners have reforested it with native plants and created a sanctuary for amphibians. They now boast 28 varieties. In the evenings, they offer guided tours to look at frogs and other nocturnal creatures. Our guide was expert at picking out small creatures from the dark jungle. We saw half a dozen species of frogs, some small enough to sit on your fingernail. We also saw big spiders, stick bugs, moth caterpillars, and bioluminescent bacteria. I learned that daddy long legs glow under black light. It was a cool way to spend my last evening in Mindo. My chauffeur brought me back to the lodge and I settled down to write and pack before my early morning departure. I hated to leave Mindo, but was excited to be venturing into the Amazon basin the following day.
No comments:
Post a Comment