Friday, February 10, 2017, At the Equator

Mansion Alcazar opened its restaurant early, at 6:00 a.m., so that we could have breakfast before our 8:20 flight to Quito, where we were met by our friend and driver, Jorge. We rode his van through Quito to the teleferico, a cable car that climbs the Pichincha volcano, a steep mountain to the west of the city. At the top we beheld a beautiful view of the city, about 3000 feet below.

A steep trail led upwards from the top of the teleferico to the highest peak of the volcano. We didn’t take it. Alejandra explained that the volcano has two calderas, and the more active one faces away from the city. The more dangerous volcano is on the other side of the valley. If it erupts, it could send pyroclastic ash into the suburbs in as little as 45 minutes. This news made the tornadoes that we deal with in the Midwest seem much less scary.

We ate lunch while overlooking another volcanic caldera to the north of Quito. Then Alejandra and Jorge led us to the Museo del Sitio Intinan, a tourist site situated right on the equator. This had originally been the site of an indigenous settlement. The 170-year-old house of the last person to live there has been preserved, with its thatched roof and clay-and-wattle walls. A photograph of the last resident hung on one of the rafters. Our guide also led us to a replica of a house of indigenous people in the Amazon, just over the mountains to the east. We learned about their hunting and gathering lifestyle that is still pursued in a national park.

We had our pictures taken while standing right on the equator. There were demonstrations of balancing an egg on a nail, water running straight out of a drain, and walking on the equator with your eyes closed, all things that happen differently on the equator, according to our guide. We also learned about the practice of head-hunting and head-shrinking that was until recently practiced by an Amazonian tribe. We saw an actual shrunken head from 170 years ago, but were not allowed to take photographs of it.

We then returned to our hotel from our previous stay in Quito, the Casona de la Ronda, the boutique hotel in a restored building that dates from 1738. On Friday evening the Calle de la Ronda is a happening place in Quito. Only about three blocks long, the street is alive with nightlife – bars, restaurants, nightclubs, handicraft stores and vendors selling food out of doorways. Hawkers stand in the street attempting to lure you into their restaurant. After taking in this scene, we returned to the hotel for a quiet supper. Abby was craving a hamburger, and praised the hotel’s version as the real thing. I had the seco de chivo, translated in the menu as lamb stew, although Google Translate says that chivo means goat. Either way, it was delicious.