Mitad del Mundo

Quito, Ecuador

Well, once again we climbed a ton yesterday. Fortunately, most of it came while riding in the comfort of Quito’s municipal tram system. 

Like many places down here in the Andes, it feels like Quito should be a big ski town. The city sits in a valley – I guess the valley is part of an old volcano – with huge mountains framing the western edge of Ecuador’s capital. Riding up in the tram you see just how steep and big these mountains are. Wow.

The only thing Quito is missing is snow. But I guess when you sit on the equator the days and the temperatures are always the same: highs in the low-70s, and lows in the mid-50s. Not conducive to snow . . . But if you’re going to have the same temperatures all year this is maybe not the worst climate ever . . .

On the way up in the tram we met a wonderful young couple: Victoria from Toronto, Canada (yes, she was still willing to talk to us), and Preben from Norway. They have been traveling down in this part of the world for about a month; they met each other along the way and have now joined forces. 

For the “older” crowd – you know the ones . . . the people who actually reads these blog entries – I’ll add a little bit about what we think we are learning about this younger generation’s traveling circuit. Remember when we were young? Many of us would save up, go to Europe with a backpack, buy a Eurail Pass, and then go to all the places based on our Europe for $5/Day type book. We might run into other travelers along the way – but there was no practical way to share information or carry on a relationship other than to agree to a very specific meeting . . . Something like: “I’ll be in front of the basilica in Rome at 9 a.m. on the morning of July 8.” 

Good luck with that . . . Because, remember, there were no cell phones and the only way to even call anyone at all was with a pay phone – and it cost a small fortune to call the States . . .

This generation works much differently. I really can’t claim to understand the communication vehicles, but I think Instagram plays a big role. Take that volcano tour we went on in Guatemala. All these travelers seem to know all about it. They’ve seen all the pictures. They almost don’t need to go on the actual trip because they’ve lived it all through their social media accounts before they even arrive. 

Victoria and Preben. I guess they originally met in a hostel in some little town in Colombia. They exchanged info and, because of that, were able to reconnect in Medellin. They’ve been traveling together ever since. 

Fun to talk to Preben about Norway and Norwegian stuff. He comes from a town of 50,000 that is above the Polar circle. I guess there is about a month each year when there is no sunlight at all. Preben was sad that his town has not produced any international ski stars – but, of course, Preben skis some himself. He’s Norwegian, after all . . .

After paying $1 to dress up in traditional outfits and pose with alpacas, we took some pictures at the top of the hill and headed back down for lunch with Mario. 

Before we get to Mario I need to relay the story of our taxi ride. The driver was a seemingly nice guy who taught himself English with Duolingo and has an engineering degree where he specializes in electric vehicles. Which is kind of weird because we have seen no evidence of them in Ecuador . . . 

But who knows how much of his story was real? In retrospect, he was telling us everything that we wanted to hear. A young Ecuadorian guy who taught himself English, is working toward the energy revolution, and just drives taxi on the side a little to get ahead. How cool!

Sadly, I think he was just buttering us up. When we arrived back at our place and asked him how much – cuesta? – he told us it was $15. Now, Diana had paid the Uber on the way to the tram – so I had no context. $15 seemed high – but the guy was so nice and I was still thinking how admirable he was – so I paid him before I could quite process it all. 

But it all clicked when I asked him for a picture for the blog and he basically sped off. And then Diana said the Uber had been $3.50. Ugh. The price you pay for wanting to believe in people . . . (For the record, I still do believe in people . . . Just have to remember to have my guard up occasionally . . .)

Back to Mario. He is a businessman here in Quito who is about our age. Back in high school his family hosted my friend Jeff B (Blog Reader Margit B’s son) when Jeff went on an exchange program here in Ecuador. They have been friends ever since. 

Mario is hoping to bring his whole family (they have two kids – ages 6 and 9) to Minneapolis this summer and they are looking for a home to rent. We would volunteer our place except our daughter Ellie and her friends are renting it. Anyone have any ideas for Mario? They need a place for June, July and August and they are open to a home exchange if anyone is interested in traveling to Ecuador. Also, once they arrive I’m hoping some of you can help get them lined up with the Minneapolis social scene. Mario is a biker and does triathlons. The kids play soccer. And they’re all hoping to improve their English – though Mario’s is perfect as far as I can tell . . .

Mario explained some about the upcoming elections in Ecuador. I guess the current president, Daniel Noboa, is a little bit more of a law and order guy who has taken a pretty strong stand against the narco gangs that apparently have come to dominate the coastal regions. There are about a million political parties in Ecuador, and I guess officials are expecting that they will need to hold run-off elections – but apparently the strongest contender is Luisa Gonzalez – a more left-wing candidate. We have seen a ton of Luisa support as we’ve been biking along. Billboards, hand-made signs, cars with Luisa stuff – but I guess Noboa is the strong front-runner. Election Day is February 9 – so we’ll soon see . . . (After years of political chaos probably just having some stability would be great for Ecuador).

On the topic of elections, Mario explained that his best friend is seeing some impacts from our new president. Mario’s friend is from Chile but works in Ecuador for a Non-Governmental Organization that, as I understand it, destroys weapons that the narco gangs use in the prosecution of the drug trade. I guess all of their work is now on hold because it is unclear whether Trump’s recent decrees will mean that they will lose their funding. We’ll see how that shakes out, but if our goal is to reduce the drugs coming into the U.S. pulling the rug out from under an organization that is literally disarming the narcos does not seem like a good policy move. 

We also visited the Central Park of the City – Parque La Carolina – and the Basilica del Voto. It was Sunday afternoon and nice out and we were really impressed by the energy in the park. People strolling and biking. Two very elaborate and nice BMX parks. Volleyball courts with bleachers filled with people watching pickup games. Soccer. Tennis. Amusement park. Vendors. And just so green. Love places like this. 

The Basilica, which sits on a hill in the old town, is a huge cathedral that was built around the turn of the 19th century. I guess the Pope determines what churches are basilicas by assessing how cool the church is – and this one qualified. They say that the basilica is not finished because local legend has it that when the basilica is finished the world will end. 

We didn’t see any construction workers on site – so that’s good . . .

Today? A tour of the old city before we head out on the Avenue of the Volcanoes toward Cuenca. The big one – Cotopaxi – is supposed to be the Mount Ranier of South America – complete with a ring of snow at its peak. Will be our first snow siting since last March or so. 

We can’t wait . . .