ecuador-librium in quito and its environs

the native mountain people here are some of the most beautiful people i've ever seen. small in stature and with pure andean mountain features, they offer colorful crafts and friendly smiles.

Quick Tips:

be aware when you travel to ecuador (even in the capital city) that this is an impoverished nation by north american standards. everything is impossibly inexpensive here (i had to try with all my might to spend more than US on a meal with beverages and dessert!), so if people ask you for money, remember that a little bit goes a long way.

Best Way To Get Around:

i did a lot of walking in the downtown area, but taxis are available for longer distances from one side of the city to the other for a total cost of about US. to get outside the city, you can charter a car and a driver (and even a tourguide, if you like) for the equivalent of about US.

because i was attending a wedding, we all lodged at this hotel, which is incredibly luxurious by even my american standards but certainly so by local standards. the services here were excellent, the rooms ample and well-appointed, and the bathroom ulta-luxurious with a bathtub that could have slept a family of four. the lobby was filled (and i mean, filled) with explosions of local roses, which, incidentally, are world-renowned for their beauty and fragrance. the hotel also offered lovely swimming pools and a fully-loaded workout facility with spa and massage service. of course, there are other lodging options in town, but for the price, this is a wonderful place to return at night.

i enjoyed some of my most satisfying meals at some of the myriad internet cafés/restaurants in the more touristy region of downtown quito. many of these places offered vegetarian fare as well, with amply stocked salad bars and lovely local foods. if you order a beer, be prepared to be handed an icy cold 32oz. bottle. what will shock you, however, are the prices. for the beer, expect to pay no more than US$1.25, and for the meal (including internet service, which is free for the first hour when a meal or beverage is purchased) expect to pay no more than US$5. but even better than all that is the fact that you can sit beside people from all over the world while, like you, they are connecting to home and enjoying a meal. i met the most interesting people and heard wonderful stories in this setting.

the visit isn't complete without one (or many) visits to the local markets for such things as brightly-colored ecuadoran textiles and woolens, inexpensive leathers, jewelry and so much more. with a little more investment of time and energy, you can hire a car and a driver to take you to the mountain village of otavalo which is about a tow and a half hour drive outside quito through winding mountain roads. otavalo boasts many small, privately-owned leather shops where prices for beautiful leathers of all sizes, colors, shapes and textures can be bargained for. continue on to the large, open marketplace where local merchants set up tables and tents and get down to business offering some of the most inventive crafts you can imagine.

although a tourist haven, this monument at the center of the world is worth the visit for the price of US$2 and the 20 minutes it takes to get there. the monument itself is quite impressive, towering several storeys upward that are ascended from within via an elevator, and houses a museum of sorts that tracks the evolution of the ecuadoran people. the museum is toured by walking down the steps and viewing the exhibits along the walls. if for no other reason, you can truly say that you have been to the middle of the world.

i wasn't exactly prepared for what it would look or feel like to wander around a place where people not only do not enjoy the luxuries we are afforded living in the united states but where, for the most part, people struggle to get their basic needs met. i was frequently approached by people selling all sorts of things like individual pieces of hard candy to small toiletry items--anything that could be sold or traded for something of value. i was also struck by how many people spent most of their time on the streets, nursing children, asking for money, selling their wares.

what i was most struck by, though, was that, in light of all this dearth, there was an overwhelming sense of community. children were almost always accompanied by their mothers or traveled in bands with friends. hordes of people waiting to take the bus from downtown to some other place socialized with one another, played cards, ate meals together.

it occurred to me then, and i revisit this thought often, that with all of the luxuries we enjoy in our society, their upkeep takes so much of our energy that we may tend to lose sight of our human connections. this i have learned from the ecuadorans, and i cherish this lesson.