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We’ve made it to Quito for a quick couple days. After checking at a nice, cheap hostel, we ended up in a hostel that, while fine enough as a dorm, had an absolutely terrible kitchen. We actually considered leaving for another place that was a bit cleaner, but then momentum overwhelmed cleanliness. We stayed at the crappy kitchen. Oh well. We manage. The Plaza de Foch is an incredible development in the heart of new Quito. It was a large square with bars and restaurants all around. I felt like I was in Power and Light district in Kansas City, or any other brand new development that’s a coordinated, huge development. They were in the process of building an underground parking structure so that the square “could reclaim greenspace for the patrons and provide responsible transportation infrastructure.” Sounds pretty developed.

Yesterday was spent walking around Old Quito.  We are staying in New Quito, so the walk down was great, passing from the new city to the old, passing parks with all the nappers enjoying the soft grass. The park was a strange feeling, because it reminded us immediately of Bois de Vincennes in Paris. And it turns out that they designed the park with the french gardens in mind. Then, continuing downhill, we noticed a very french looking basilica that seemed out of place. So we trucked up the hill and took a look and we were amazed that this church was here in Quito. High, towering ceilings, rose windows, classical french structure, huge columns tapering to a consummate v. It was beautiful, especially in the setting of old Quito, towering above all the other buildings. Leaving the basilica, we walked through the old town, marveling at the french architecture and influence, the modern bus system with their electric buses setup like a metro, then headed back up to the Foch Square to meet up with Cristina.

We arrived at 3:32pm at the square, and of course, we were late, Cristina arriving at 3:29pm. (Meeting up with Americans is so difficult sometimes, they expect things to run ontime, when we all clearly know they don’t down here, but we still try.) Cristina (whose parents are from Ecuador) was part of the trio my sister ran in during high school. While they spent an incredible amount of time trying to make my life a general hell. They were pretty successful. It’s a wonder we’re all still friends, but it was great to meet up with her. I hadn’t really seen her since I was a freshman in high school, which was a long while ago. I did manage to recognize her in the square waiting, and so we gave each other hugs and marveled that Quito, of all places, was where we were meeting up again.

She had the wonderful idea to check out the museum of one of her favorite painters, Guayasamin. What a wonderful idea. The painters work was absolutely fantastic, focusing on faces and hands, hands with such incredible detail and emotion. It was an additional pleasure because it was something that we never would have done on our own. Getting taken along by a local, well, a semi-local, was a great opportunity. Apparently her family was friends of the artist’s family, which added another dimension to the experience. In addition to the paintings, there was jewelry, some religious art and a collection of pre-columbian art, which was interesting on it’s own. A fermale german tour guide drilled us through a german military-style tour that lasted approximately 5 minutes. How can you just cruise through a collection of sculpture depicting a breach birth? Apparently if you’re a german tour guide you do it with ease.

From the museum we went to El Mosaico, a restaurant overlooking the entire city. We watched the sun go down over Quito as we talked about all the stories I never got from my sister’s days in high school, my sister’s upcoming wedding, Nidhi’s wedding (the other third of the trio that tormented me), life of the road, life abroad, making and maintaining friendships, and the interesting types of people you meet on the road. As someone who’s spent years out of the country, it’s always fun to talk with someone who’s lived some type of similar situations that just don’t really come up when you’re close to home. It was a great afternoon and evening.

Today we’re off to Riobamba to hopefully catch the Nariz del Diablo train. We’ll see if we can catch a ride. Should be interesting.