Quito has 1,8 million inhabitants. It is stuck between two mountain ranges and it can therefore only expand to the north or to the south. Hence is like a long corridor 30 miles long and 3 miles wide.

Traffic here is a major problem although we did not have to suffer too much from it because we are saturday and morover still during the christmas holidays. Most quiteños will resume work monday and have left for the country.

Ten years ago one family out of three owned a car. Nowadays there is more than one car per family. This is the reason why the government is pushing the construction of the first public underground line and I bet it’s direction will be north/south.

After a huge breakfast with a delicious coconut juice, we undertake to visit the city but we soon realize we should not be too ambitious because the jet lag made us wake up at 3:00 am and the altitude disease is still there.

So at 9:00 we leave in the direction of Mitad del Mundo which is a kind of information centre located exactly on the equator line.

We learn that French engineers came here in the 19th century to determine where the equator line was crossing the country but since they had no proper instruments they missed it by 200m compared to the proper location recently determined with the help of GPS.

We tae the classical photo (missed and therefore not published :-)) of us with our feet on both sides of the line. It reminds me of a picture we took in the London borough of Greenwich with our feet east and west of the meridian.

Of course it got me thinking of where is the place with 0°0’0″ N (or S) et 0°0’0″ E (or W) coordinates where in theory you could have your hands in NW and NE positions and your knees in SW and SE. And yes, it exists, but if you go there don’t forget your life jacket because it is the middle of the Atlantic, nof far from the Gulf of Guinea.

We move along to different viewpoints crossing various part of the city and its suburbs which remind us of other south american towns such as Lima. Although it is not as wealthy as European towns, there does not seem to be any misery there and don’t see any shanty town.

People don’t look as stressed as Europeans and life seems to go on at a more leisurely pace than on the old continent.

The town centre is absolutely charming and is quite large. It has the style of old colonial spanish towns but the population is quite mixed : there are very few totally white people but mostly mestizos, or indians (called here “indigenous”) and also a small number of black people.

There is music everywhere, for the most part traditional melancholic music with guitars, accordeons of rondador (the local pan flute) but also cumbia originated in neighbour Colombia, a very rhythmic and dansy music, without forgetting the music of the coastal black populations with lots of songs mixed with drums.

Although we are very tired, it is a real pleasure to walk along these colored streets with all these smily and friendly people.

Now it’s time for lunch. We find a quiet and shady terrasse and decide to live dangerously 🙂 and eat ecuadorian. We first share a “locro de papas” a heavy and tasty soup based on potatoes. I then try a “seco de chivo” which is kind of mutton stew (although chivo means goat in spanish !) served with rice, cabbage and a spicy dressing. Gaby goes for a ceviche of palmetto sprouts and plantain bananas. Everything is delicious.

We resume our walk in the old town and visit Calle de Ronda, the Presidential Palace and various plazas.  But we’re gettiong tired and although the temperature is only 23°C the sun is hot since it is directly above our heads. We have to walk in the shade and wear a hat.

It’s 4 o’clock. We’re dead. We ask Luis to take us back to our hotel where we shower and collapse. We won’t have dinner tonight. At that time we’ll be fast asleep …