AMAZON & THE GALAPAGOS DAY 1 - PROLOUGE QUITO

 

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from all our travel, it is this:  1am is a stupid, stupid time for a flight. Sure, our Uber driver was nice, a best-of-South-Jersey type with a good story and generous laugh. Sure, it’s the only time we didn’t hit traffic on the way to JFK. But for the life of me, I can’t imagine why Avianca schedules the only nonstop to Ecuador at such an ungodly hour.   10:30 at night at a locally branded airport bar that looks like every other locally branded airport bar in the world - same drinks, same homogenized food, same homogenized bartender - but this time it feels surreal. Mandy and I have put so much planning, so much anticipation into this trip for the last year, we can’t believe we’re finally launching. 

 

The airline is meh. A hundred bucks extra get you first three rows, not so much as a bag of pretzels, intermittently crying babies and not even coffee after a 6 hour overnight flight.  But as the sun rises over the green and wavy mountains of Quito, our excitement bubbles over.  This promises to be our most ambitious adventure yet… the Amazon and the Galapagos.  

We land around 6am, buzz through customs, and are met at the exit of the airport by our driver, Jorge.  During the 45-minute drive to the hotel, Jorge is a wealth of information about Quito and Ecuador in general. Before we even leave the parking lot, he points out the volcanic peaks of the Andes mountains in all directions. The peaks over 15,000 feet are snow covered, and we get a rare cloudless view of the tallest peak.  He tells us about some more anomalies of being at the equator. For example, the sun always rises at 6 AM and always sets at 6 PM with no variation . At any given altitude, The weather is virtually the same every day with the amount of rain being the only variable.  

We’re delivered to the JW Marriott and checked in even at this early hour (status does indeed have its privileges 😁).  The property is beautiful, featuring dozens of arrangements of the Ecuadorean roses Jorge had told us about (their a huge export crop).  We get to our room, buzz upstairs for the lovely breakfast, then crash hard for a few hours.  

We shower, slap on some sunscreen and decide to wander into Old Town for a bit.  Ubers are incredibly inexpensive here (as we later find out, everything is) so the 20 minute ride is well under $5. Quito sits at 9000 feet above sea level, which translates to low of 49F and a high of 67F. Every day. Always.  That’s why we decided to forgo hats today. Big mistake. Here’s the math:  67F + 9000ft x (no shade) = blazing hot!{🥵}.  Our dilemma is quickly resolved, and I even let the nice lady at the tiny shop up-sell me to a total of $8 for both ballcaps.  

Old Town is abuzz with activity on this Saturday before Easter. The crowd is mostly local families and they fill the streets with happy energy, wandering in and out of the shops, churches and squares. There are street food chefs grilling chickens, sausages, and plantains over any metal tub that can hold hot coals. But we’re fascinated by the street merchants selling the oddest merchandise that they carry around - colorful scoops of meringues that look like gelato, shots of bright color spirits, mesh sacks of avocados or mandarin oranges, little bags of spices, disposable razors, shoe insoles and even (I’m not kidding) plumbing supplies. It all lends itself to the overall personality of the place.  

We make our way to some of the less crowded blocks. Getting hungry we find a tiny little restaurant with about six tables.  It’s a family affair and our waiter is no more than 11 years old. We ordered the chicken platter and the fish platter, only later realizing our mistake when the female owner of the restaurant is confused when we turn down the soup. Lunch is the big meal here in Ecuador, and that usually starts with soup, no matter how hot, and finishes with an entrée. The meals are very nice, and we’re surprised when the fish is served whole and simply fried.  The entire bill, including a huge bottle of water, is all of eight dollars, and we make our waiters day when we leave him the two dollar tip.  Full and running out of our second wind, we Uber back to the hotel. 

After a quick nap, go for a soak in the hotel’s hot tub, part of a very nice pool complex.  Back to the room, we’re treated to a welcome gift of Chilean white wine, mixed nuts and dried fruits. After getting ready, we head upstairs to the rooftop lounge and indulge in some more wine and light appetizers.  It’s been an extremely long day and we want to stay close to home, so we check out the hotel’s five restaurants. We decide on bar seats at The Exchange and order one more glass from their extensive list. I order the Surf and Turn Mix appetizer and it is fantastic… grilled octopus, steak, shrimp and sausages, all local. Mandy tries the octopus, which she normally doesn’t, and says three words I never thought I’d hear from her. “That’s good octopus!”  

For a day we originally planned to be travel and chill, it's a lot.  Three glasses and 36 hours makes for deep sleep.