After a lovely few days relaxing at Secret Garden Cotopaxi, it was time to visit Ecuador’s capital, Quito!
I gave myself two full days to explore Quito. To my surprise I could have spent more! Anyway, here’s what I got up to in my two days…
La Mitad del Mundo
When in Quito I had to go visit the Equator. I was the closest I’ll ever be!
There are two places to visit for the Equator and they’re pretty much next to each other.
The first is the official monument at La Mitad del Mundo. Entrance is $5 and we spent almost two hours there. I got the classic walking along the Equator picture!
We also went to the top of the monument for a cool bird’s eye view and came down through the museum about the history of the Equator monument and Ecuador in general.
Fun fact: We are 0.5% lighter at the equator than at the two poles.
The second place to visit is the smaller Museo Intinan (entrance is $4). It’s where the official Equator line is as precision and accuracy were slightly off when they built the first monument.
I really enjoyed our visit! We did a few tricks that being at the Equator made easier or harder. Balancing a raw egg on a nail was quite easy and walking in a straight line eyes closed along the Equator line was really hard. I’m not sure how much is really true and due to the Equator but it was pretty cool!
The way our shadows point depends on which hemisphere we’re in. In the north, are shadows point north at noon and in the south, it’s south. Makes sense, I’d never thought about it before!
At the Equator, they can see both northern and southern constellations.
Water doesn’t whirlpool at the Equator, it goes straight down!
I also got a pic at the Latitude 00°00’00” sign which made me very happy!
How to get there
You have three main options for getting to La Mitad del Mundo.
- By taxi or Uber – it’s around $15 one way.
- Go with a tour – usually cost $10 and entrance fees aren’t included.
- Do it yourself on public transport – this is the most time consuming way but by far the cheapest (less than $1 return!). I did this! First, I caught a 40min metro bus from Marin Central to La Ofelia ($0.25). From La Ofelia, I took another 40min bus to La Mitad del Mundo ($0.15). For the journey back, we hopped on a bus to the Centro Historico ($0.40) which took an hour approx.
I ended the afternoon in a Claro mobile shop trying to sort out why internet wasn’t working for me. It took ages and my stumbling Spanish was doing its best to explain my situation. All I knew was that there was no way I’d used 3GB of data in less than a week! I ended up getting 1GB as goodwill and I was happy with myself for not rolling over and saying it was my fault.
Free walking tour
I went on a morning walking tour around the centro historico. We walked the main streets and visited several pretty churches. The old town really is nice to wander around!
The tour itself wasn’t the best I’ve done, but still a good way to see a bit of the city.
The best part was without a doubt the chocolate tasting at Yumbo’s. The chocolate was amazing and the brownie was heaven! One of the best I’ve had! I’m going to Mindo next and they have their chocolate factory there. I’m 100% doing a tour and eating more brownie!!
Basilica del Voto Nacional Cathedral
The Basilica del Voto Nacional is beautiful and well worth the visit.
Tip: The church and the towers are two separate visits. This catches quite a few people out as they think their ticket covers everything. Entrance to both parts is $2 each. To climb the towers, there’s a small ticket office window near the bathrooms.
I only bought a ticket to climb the towers (I felt like I’d been in enough churches!). A huge school group arrived at the same time to me, so I decided to delay my climb until it was less busy.
As I waited, I asked another girl waiting for a photo. She was waiting for her friend and was happy to help. Her friend soon turned up and crazy crazy it was Kaitlyn, who I’d met in El Chaltén Argentina and done the sunrise hike to Fitz Roy with. Small small world!
On the way up to the towers, there’s a beautiful stained glass window and you can also see the interior of the church from above. Having seen the church from above, I knew I didn’t need to enter the church separately.
Climbing the towers was fun and at times kinda scary if heights get to you. I found the spiral staircases up the two clock face towers were fine.
To climb the last tower I had to give myself a 10min pep talk. It was a steep stair ladder up and was a bit exposed for my liking. I’m so glad I made myself go up as the views of the other towers and church were beautiful! The views over the city were also great!
How to get to Quito
By bus
Being the capital, Quito is very well connected. As such it’s hard to describe all the ways you can reach Quito.
Quito has two main bus terminals: Quitumbe in the south and Carcelén in the north.
You’ll usually arrive to Quitumbe Terminal if you’re arriving from central or southern Ecuador. For instance, Cuenca (10hrs), Baños (3.5hrs), Guayaquil (8hrs).
You’ll normally arrive to Carcelén Terminal if you’re coming from the north. For example, Mindo (2hrs), Otavalo (2.5hrs), Tulcan (5hrs and for those crossing the border from Colombia).
By plane
Internal flights (excluding Galápagos!) around Ecuador are also decently priced. The airport is located quite far out from the city centre. It can take 45mins-1hr to get from the airport to the city centre.
Final thoughts
I was prepared to not like Quito, that’s the way I usually am with cities when I travel. I generally find them too busy and and samey.
Quito surprised me – I liked it, especially the old town which was really pretty.
I wasn’t in Quito for long and I didn’t cram stuff in so I didn’t see loads. For instance, I missed out the El Teleferico cable car, climbing Pichincha volcano, visiting the artisanal market…all things I can do if I’m ever back in Quito.
What I did see I liked! I really enjoyed going to the equator. I didn’t find it too touristy and for me it was a cool experience! I’d visit both the official monument and the museum.
The Basilica was really beautiful and climbing the towers was fun and a teensy bit scary! Worth it for the views!!
The one thing about Quito that I wasn’t a fan of was safety. Getting off the bus after going to La Mitad del Mundo, a lady repeatedly warned us to watch our bags and be really careful.
During the day, even though I still didn’t wander around with my phone in hand and only carried small amounts of cash, I felt fine. At night, I stayed in the hostel. I really didn’t fancy walking around at night and if I had gone out I would’ve got an Uber or taxi for sure.
Aside from the safety aspect, I enjoyed my time in Quito and wouldn’t mind passing through again in the future.
Next up is Mindo and the cloud forest!
