Time Travel

After breakfast, we let our feet carry us to Quito´s old town, a labyrinth of one way streets and colonial architecture. We found our way to the Plaza Grande, ringed with the Palacio del Gobierno and Quito´s Cathedral. On a side street, we picked up crecentes and pan dulces at a panaderia and fresh squeezed orange juice. Back in the plaza, we lingered in the shade, eating our snack and exhanging pleasantries with a patient elderly gentleman.

Around us children kicked a soccer ball, buisness men stopped to chat, policia patrolled in dark blue uniforms, their whistles at the ready.Indigenous women in their high Ecuadoran hats and embroidered skirts sold weavings, sunglasses and small carved statues.

A UNESCO world heritage site, Quito first came to prominance during the brief rein of the Inca in 1500 when it served as the secondary capitol for the Ecuadoran born ruler. Less than 50 years later Francisco Pizarro arrived and disposed of the Inca. The Spanish crown declared Quito the capitoal of a province extending up into Colombia and down into Peru. It was then, in the late 1500s that the white-washed buildings around us were built. In the 1820s, Quito and other Ecuadoran cities began to vie for independance, which they won in 1822.

Errands pulled us away from Old Town and we wound up paz y muño to the Instituto Geografico Militar where we selected topo maps for our treks. On large flat screen monitors, we were able to view each map, zoom in, and check our routes. After paying less than $3 per map, our maps were printed for us on a state-of-the-art, large-format printer.

Gravity pulled us back down the hill to supper in New Town with its wide streets, electric trollies and glass-fronted buildings. What a kalidescope of time and topography.