We are staying in El Centro Norte, Quito’s modern downtown. South of us is a completely different version of Quito–it’s historical downtown called El Centro Histórico.
A UNESCO world heritage site, Quito’s old town is narrow hilly streets lined with pastel coloured buildings, and plazas bordered with churches, palaces, museums and theatres.
A few days ago after Spanish classes, we found our way to old town on the Trolebus, one of three north-south transit lines (the city is long and narrow), for which we paid 25 cents. We wandered the streets and plazas for about an hour until we were caught in a rainstorm and dove into a cafe to wait it out. It didn’t look like the evening was going to be much dryer, so we made a mad dash for a station and caught a ride back toward home. A kind young woman overheard us trying to figure out stations and in English offered her help. Thanks to two stations being closed for repairs we had quite a walk home, something we wouldn’t have known had she not spoken up.
Today, Saturday, with a much nicer weather forecast, we again headed into El Centro Historico, this time taking the Ecovia (another one of the three north-south transit lines, and also 25 cents a ride). We hopped off at the Alameda station, where Parque Alameda divides the old and new towns. From there we walked about 1km uphill to the La Basílica del Voto Nacional.
We took a long careful walk downhill to Plaza de la Independencia, and then wended our way through the streets until we were exhausted and hungry. Another $2.50 almuerzo re-energized us enough to find a Trolebus station and head north for home.
There is still so much to see and do in El Centro Histórico, we will definitely be back for more.
Life: Phase Next 
Ken/Coral, I just finished my 4th week of staycation with no rain, so I finally got things done on my yard. As Ken knows I only have a work computor so I had lots of your adventures to go through when I got back to work. Like others I’m enjoying following you through “Life: Phase Next”. Becouse of this I have decided to take a crack at learning Spanish, time will tell how this works out. I look forward to following your travels. Ken be sure to carry Coral’s books from school.
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Blair,
Good to hear from you. What a great comment! Thanks for letting us know. Nice to know you are able to enjoy the postings. 4 weeks sounds like a great way to relax and forget about all the work stuff.
I will be sending you an email with a local pic to share with the group if you would.
Ken
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