Quito, Ecuador

I’ve been in Quito for the past 2 weeks and have a few days left before returning to Lima and then to Cuzco for a week or so.

Quito is a great South American city. The second highest after La Paz, but more beautiful. The city runs along a valley floor overlooked by old volcanoes rising to over 5000m.

There is the standard old historical centre which has the obligatory Plaza Bolivar, cathedral and lots of old colonial stuff that the Spanish built after destroying as much of the indigenous culture as possible in the 1500s. The nicest church sits over an Incan temple, which before that was a Caras temple and before that a Quitu temple. One day the Chinese might build a temple on the same site.

During the Conquest Quito was the site of one of the best organised resistance attempts by the Incas, led by an Incan warrior named Ruminahui. After the Inca Atahualpa was executed (see previous blog) after delivering the promised ransom for his life, Ruminahui raced back to Quito, to defend it and save its treasures. When Pizzaro heard that there was significant gold in Quito he sent one of his Lieutenants, Benalcazar, and a force to capture the city. Of course, the horses and guns of the Spanish led by Benalcazar outmuscled the Incas, and for his sinful resistance Ruminahui was tortured and executed. However, before the Spanish captured Quito, Ruminahui had all the treasure from the city buried somewhere, and then had the city burned to the ground, and killed the temple virgins to preserve their purity. Nice one. However, during his torture he never revealed the whereabouts of the treasure now known as the Treasure of the Llanganatis. Wouldn’t mind knowing where it is…...

Ecuadorians commemorate Ruminahui by having a holiday on 1 December each year. He’s quite a hero here.

This weekend I travelled to a small town north of Quito called Otavalo, which is famous for its market. It's set at the base of an old volcano and is quite picturesque.

The Lonely Planet calls it the best market in South America, which might be close, depending on your tastes. If you like rows and rows of stalls all selling the same Gringo traps then maybe. Too touristy for my liking however, and I’d rate the market in Manaus, Brazil, as the best that I have seen here. A much more real experience. Lot’s of colour in Otavalo however, and they have a nice monument to Ruminahui.


Quito is a great capital city to visit, as is Ecuador as a whole. It’s a small country so it’s easy to travel around and has some amazing flora and fauna, volcanoes, The Amazon, cloud forests, colonial cities, and of course The Galapagos – which is too expensive for the locals to visit of course. With the average wage about $3 an hour, little wonder.

Oh, and by the way, yesterday on the bus on the way back to Quito I had my first attempted robbing since arriving in SA 11 months ago. I had my camera bag on the floor between my legs and a guy behind me crawled under the seat, opened it up and removed a wallet from it. Luckily, I noticed the case had moved and checked it to find the wallet missing. And luckily, he hadn’t got off the bus yet. I freaked out my wife by getting extremely angry (very unusual for me) and it was only at the last second that my fist changed into an open had before smashing into his shoulder, and not his face. He then went to the front of the bus and asked to get off….

Hate thievery, but he looked pretty poor, so understandably he’s just trying to survive……damn humans!