The Middle Of The World

At breakfast this morning we told the Miriam, the owner, that we had gone to Plaza Foch the previous evening. She was horrified, she said the place had changed since covid, now there are lots of immigrants, drugs and ladies of the night, the latter we did see actually. So I also asked the guide we had today and he said that since covid it wasn't a safe place to go. Maybe we need to start treating online blogs with a bit more caution.

Today's tour turned out to be just us and the guide, with him driving us around in his car. Our first stop was to the Panecillo a huge statue on top of a ridge, which we could see from outside our hotel. In 1822 was also the site of one of the battles for independence from Spain under Simon Bolivar. That same year Gran Columbia was formed. In 1830, this new country was divided into what are now Equador, Columbia, Venezuela and Panama. Though all for countries kept the original colours of the Gran Columbia flag and just tweaked the design.

We then took the Teleferico, a cable car, up the Pichincha volcano for a view over Quito. Apparently, it is one of the highest cable cars in the world, 2.2km long and taking you up to 3,945m, almost 13,000ft. Then a 15 min hike, that you could feel in your chest, took you up to the 4,100m lookout point. For some reason there was a swing at the top, but it did prove very popular for photos with Quito in the background, down below.

The final stop was to the Mitad del Mundo, middle of the world. The north of Quito is on the equator and we went to an interactive outdoor museum. Apparently, due to the Coriolis effect it is easier to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail on the equator than it is anywhere else in the world. All I can say is that never having tried it before, I still found it very difficult, even on the equator.

On our guide's recommendation he dropped us off at Parque Carolina. A newish suburb of Quito, with lots cafes and restaurants, lots of people on the street and a comfortable and safe vibe. We had something to eat, a good walk around the area and eventually found a local pub, Viva Cerveza. They have live music every Wednesday, tonight the genre was 'post rave', it sounded more like dystopian white noise. Shame we weren't here next week as it will be 'early post punk rock', that might have been more up my street.Read more