What parts of Quito doesnt have any tourists?

I want to go there to learn Spanish but I dont want to be surrounded by a ton of English. I plan to avoid gringos like the plague. Ive heard Old Town is a decent area?

Let's face it, if you end up in a part of Quito with no tourists at all it probably (a) won't be very nice and (b) won't have spanish schools. The good news is that you can go to a part where there are some tourists but if you stay in a home stay with a local family then you'll be getting plenty of immersion. And Quito is not Cusco - so you'll be fine.

Most of the Spanish schools are located in the Mariscal, so you may have to go there to take classes. However, there are a lot of nice areas you can stay, without meeting even one foreigner. You can basically pick any other area besides the Mariscal and Old Town.

Old Town is nice and many ordinary Ecuaodrians who are decent live there too. A homedstay would be the best way to go as you will mix mostlywith the host family and their friends and relatives and not other tourists.

I stay in a hostel between old and new town (casa bambu), and there are not many gringos in the neighborhood. Of course, the hostel is full of them, buit they ae from all over, and most of the time, the common language is Spanish, which is good for practice. Most people here are studying at the school, since the hostel offers cheap long term stays (about $150 per month). I also take classes at Vida Verde, which is about 5 blocks from Mariscal (and it can be easily avoided). They offer homestays, which is the most authentic experience.

About Mariscal... I swore I wouldn't go there before I came, but I underestimated the comfortable feeling something slightly familiar gives me (like bookstores, brewed coffee, internet, etc). While it is the most touisty area, it is not overrun like US or European cities are. I would guess maybe 15% gringo in this area!

Head to the South....no Gringos there!

Yeah, I guess I cant avoid them. Im definitly going to do a homestay, but stll deciding what school to attend. Im thinking maybe cristobal colon since its so cheap.

Im just going to make every effort to not speak english. Hopefully I make some local friends.

Wow you are so amazingly experienced 'traveller' that you might as well give up travelling & sit on your superior pedestal & look down on the rest of us. God imagine having to encounter other tourists gasp the horror – you might die. Just hearing English spoken will make your brain drain of any knowledge you have acquired... [/sarcasm]

Who said anything about superior?? And yes hearing english all the time does slow down your language learning and thats a fact. Thats the whole point of immersion. You are very intelligent [/sarcasm].

I took classes at Academia Latinoamericana, in the residential neighborhood of La Carolina. There are very few tourists around, it's convenient to the metro, and everyone seemed to love their host families. BUT of course you will be taking classes with English speakers. And it's not particularly cheap, even considering homestay is included.

Wow you better be careful - Quito is well know to rival Costa del sol with being overrun with English speakers. Having a Homer brain that drains of knowledge hearing English speaking you probably should stay home & listen to CDs just to be safe...

I don't think you have to worry about other gringos. Most of them don't even acknowledge each other's presence.

Does it have to be Quito? There are language schools in other parts of Ecuador such as Otavalo or Cuenca, to name just two. Both of those places have fewer tourists most of the time than Quito does. Having said that, it´s quite easy to spend time in Quito without speaking English, even in gringolandia I speak spanish in the cafes, bars, internet places, etc. There are also quite a few Colombians and Argentinians around so you can make friends with other travellers and also improve your spanish.