Quito and Baños

Hello Everyone,

Well it seems that my post about Ecuador and my few personal comments about Quito have hit a raw never with some people! I just thought that feeding back on my PERSONAL experience in Ecuador would be off help to people reading this forum.

I really am not sure it is necessary for snipes like; have I experienced a capital city etc. Of course I have and I am not that young or that inexperienced. I was only writing as to how I found Quito which I still stand by.

Well I finish this by asking you the readers if it is any help to you guys if I write about my further experiences in Ecuador, I really do not what to offend people....

You tell me should I write anymore?

Yes you should write more, Ben. I enjoyed it and look forward to your thoughts on the rest of your travels.
Thanks!

Ben,
Keep writing. It is so easy to put someone down, and so difficult to understand, for some, we all have our individual takes on things. It isn't a contest about who has the "right" view on what travel is. Travel is very individual. Some go to all inclusive resorts, some go to no-fail tourist spots that are amazing, and some climb Cotopaxi. All can enjoy their experiences equally and each can serve as an apex experience for each of the individuals. Don't know why I am ranting, but I don't respond well to put downs.
I won't have time for the south part of the country this trip, Dec 20-Jan 3, but will hopefully visiting some of the amazing places in the central highlands.
Tim

I hope you will continue to post about both good and bad things. Indeed, you praised Quito's assets at the same time you criticized it. But it would help if you could calibrate terms like "dirty, polluted, noisy, crime-ridden". All cities are somewhat dirty, polluted, and noisy, especially in developing countries. How does it compare with New York? Mexico City? Bangkok? Paris? As for crime, what does "crime-ridden" mean and what leads you to say that?

Ben,

If you're in the south of Ecuador you MUST visit Vilcabamba, great little town to relax in. There's a great hostel called Izhcayluma ( http://www.izhcayluma.com )just up the hill from the centre. It has great views over the valley and does really good food as well; the owners are great as well.

Robert

Yes I hope he keeps posting too but just if I don't agree with something I will add my comment about it...

#13 and #15 make good points so now Ben might tell why he found the Quito like that compared to other large cities and to which cities is he comparing Quito?
I know there are some lovely cities - which I might add are quite a bit smaller and therefore won't suffer the same fate as the larger cities re noise, pollution etc.

I must say I saw a lot less litter and rubbish on many of the streets in Quito than I do in Sydney where I live. This was probably due to the street cleaners and Quito Limpia (garbage trucks) which we saw collecting stuff several times a day and the street cleaners work into the night as well as early mornings. They are around in the old part of Quito (where I was living) nearly all the time so rubbish didn't accumulate or even lie around the streets for very long.

I might also add that I felt safer on the streets there than I do near where I live in the inner city of Sydney.

I do agree that pollution is bad but no quite as bad as Los Angelos I have been told or Beijing and Shanghai and a few other larger cities. Even Buenos Aires has this problem and many sing the praises of that city.

At night the old centre of Quito is fairly quiet as the nightspots are hidden away. This way a group of us enjoyed a 1am walk around the area near the Plaza and enjoyed the ambience and the beautifully lit up old buildings. This was after a night out nearby.

Sure Quito has it's problems but then so do most other cities and after you've spent some time there you can really appreciate this city despite its faults. Nowhere is perfect and everyone has different viewpoints and are entitled to poist them but a good arugument should always be backed up as poster #13 said.