*FINALLY* A Peek at Quito (and Surrounds)

No matter if the destination lies a gazillion air miles away, or but a quick whiz north to the capital of my (now near 10 year) adopted home in Ecuador. Either way, the (ever delightful) research/prep for exploring yet another new corner of the Planet is pretty much exactly the same. So I thought I’d outline just how I go about sorting through the many options and developing my own, unique DIY itinerary.

Which reminds me…

The TravelnLass guiding a small group of early intrepids amid the jungles of Tortuguero in Costa Rica. Ironically… in a past life I made my living for nearly 20 years – running small group escorted trips to Belize and Costa Rica. And I must say – I always tried my level best to design each of my tropical itineraries to offer my group participants truly authentic experiences in the many diverse corners of Belize and Costa Rica – along with plenty of FREE TIME to explore and/or relax on their own. In short, never a “If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium” boring tour. Still… The truth is, for my own (many and varied) travels – I’ve always avoided such multi-day “group tours”, and most certainly NOT one that dumps me amid a busload of strangers for weeks on end. Ugh. Just ironic. That this once-upon-a-time very successful int’l tour operator, avidly AVOIDS any and all such multi-day tours in favor of cobbling together her own unique DIY itinerary, and actually PREFERS to hop on/off pubic buses and/or sardine-packed local collectivos wherever and whenever she can.

Which brings me to today’s TL ruminations: Blissfully cobbling together an itinerary to Ecuador’s capital (Quito) plus a few other long-delayed wanna-doos in that corner of my adopted country.

Amazingly – what with living here on this mountain-top in my beloved Cuenca for nearly TEN YEARS… I’ve never before had much of an interest in visiting the capital (though I have been to those luscious Galapagos Islands twice).

But that’s soon about to change. While I’m still planning the Argentina trip I outlined in THIS TL post, that likely won’t materialize until next March or so. And meanwhile…

My long ambivalence about visiting Quito suddenly dissipated whilst I was recently reading the latest list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants (an annual list which – as a profound foodie – I naturally follow meticulously). Turns out: the 2023 award for the BEST Pastry Chef in all. the. WORLD (Pía Salazar) just happens to be from right here in Cuenca, and she plies her (both sweet and savory) pastry magic in… Quito, Ecuador!

Thus (as is usually the impetus for most any of my travel adventures) it was that stray moment that I KNEW my next adventure would (*finally*) be a recon of Quito and surrounds. First and foremost – I’d snag a reservation for Nuema (Pía and hubby’s restaurant – itself #23 on the World’s Best Restaurants list), and stick around northern Ecuador awhile to explore a few of the corners I’ve heard good things about.

With my primary goal for this little adventure north firmly settled, it was time to research what-all my options are for things to do/places to see in that corner of Ecuador – travel research, my bar-none favorite thing to do (short of actually later enjoying the trip!) 😀

Sifting through the various ‘n sundry highlights that Quito and surrounds has to offer proved quite compelling of course, but I’ve never been one to make a bee-line to every stray “Top 10 Things to Do in X”. Rather – I generally start with a fully open-mind, and then slowly narrow my options down to but the (admittedly, often quite different from your average tourist it seems) few things that tickle my peculiar traveln toes.

In this case for example, I perused all the many “Can’t miss!” touts  for the “Mitad del Mundo” (Middle of the World a.k.a. Latitude 0º) monument just outside of Quito where – apparently you can stand with one foot in each hemisphere, see water flush in opposite directions, and balance an egg on the head of a nail among other fun stuff. Um, whatcanIsay? Not my cuppa tea.

Ditto the famed Otavalo Market (about 2 hours north of Quito). Now g-knows I love me some markets in my travels. But perusing the Otavalo photos online, um… I’m afraid it doesn’t look much different than the jumble of brightly colored alpaca clothing, knitted caps and myriad of other indigenous crafts that abound in San Francisco Plaza right here in Cuenca. No doubt most tourists from other countries/my native land would love bartering for alpaca shawls and woven huarache slippers for hours on end. But for this 10 year resident of Ecuador, the Otavalo Market gets (another) nope from me.

Las Lajas Sanctuary, Colombia

This latter “nope”, perhaps especially surprising because the Otavalo Market actually lies pretty much along the route north to one of my major quests on this trip: the glorious Las Lajas Sanctuary – the magnificent gothic basilica delicately perched across a deep canyon on the Guáitara River in Colombia – little more than 7 miles from the Ecuador/Colombian border. Again, not your usual hop, skip ‘n a jump for Quito visitors (i.e. a 4 hour bus plus border crossings into/out of Colombia). But with an overnight in nearby Ipiales it should prove a worthwhile mini-adventure.

My sweet sleeps in Mindo – with my own private spa!

Next quarry: Mindo! Though many apparently make Mindo but a day trip from Quito (primarily for the zip-lining, tubing, canyoning, et al – none of which this dodderin’ near-octogenarian has the least bit of interest in) – as a once avid birdwatcher (a.k.a. “twitcher” w/ a “Life List” that includes such legendary tropicals as the Resplendent Quetzal w/ its yard-long tail plume), Mindo has long been on my bucket-list here in Ecuador. Said to be among the top birdwatching spots in the entire world (and one of the only places on the Planet to see the stunning “Andean Cock-of-the-rock” bird), I’ve opted to spend a sweet 5 nights there.

As this is such a short, domestic trip (my airfare was little more than $100 rt. from Cuenca) likely I’ll splurge for a private birding guide, and even better – I’ve opted to treat myself to a most luxurious stay there (in a deluxe suite with my own private spa bath) at Saguamby Mindo Lodge.

Additionally, I (tentatively) plan to take a quick peek at two of the “gotta see” volcanoes (of 17!) along the “Avenue of Volcanoes”: The singularly stunning, perfectly conical-shaped Cotapaxi of course (see the featured image at the top of this post), along with the picturesque blue water caldron of Quilotoa.

But for the bulk of my time in the capital – rest assured I’ll be…

EATING!

Not only the 15 course tasting menu at Nuema (a bargain at $85), but I think on this trip I’ll focus especially on filling my face with a wide variety of good eats (both street food, and fine dining). In addition to Nuema, I’m eager to try another tasting menu at Zero Lab (ranked #1 on Trip Advisor) – the 11 course ($89) tasting menu includes “Cotton Candy de panceta glaseada y jamon serrano” and another course called simply “Covered Eyes (surprise)“. Can’t wait!

Those two plus, I’m going to try to hunt down a few cuisines that I can’t get here in Cuenca: a (hopefully halfway authentic) Vietnamese Ban Mi sandwich would be divine; as would… Mongolian barbecue. Swiss raclette, Burmese fermented tea leaf salad (in my dreams!), etc.

So that’s it. After sifting through a gazillion options for day-trips, activities, restaurants, and “can’t miss” sights, I’m  confident that I’ve got a good, bare-bones itinerary that suits my unique travel druthers. A full two week itinerary deliberately left open for plenty of whim. A relaxing trio of locales, with each stay fully free to explore as much or as little as I like.

Other than the 5 nights in Mindo, and an overnight in Colombia for the Lajas cathedral, the rest of my 14 nt. itinerary (8 nts.) you’ll find me lazily wandering around Quito, gawking at street art, and doing what I do best in all my travels – letting serendipity lead me astray!