Since we are in Ecuador, let's take a look at some easy day trips from Quito, all of which can be done using public transportation.
Sangolqui
Monday. Market day. Big day in Sangolqui.
For $0.25 and a half-hour bus ride from Quito, you will enjoy a unique sensory experience. The city center is closed to cars, and hundreds of stalls of all kinds are set up in the streets.
Dozens of indigenous people bring goods of all kinds to sell, and their strange accent forms a strange cacophony with the Quito accent.
There is a specific street for selling animals. It is very peculiar to see people carrying chickens by their legs or children buying and putting chicks into small bags as if they were storing candy.
There are also some rather unpleasant scenes.
“The mail, the mail...” In the main square, in front of the church, is where the newspaper sellers, shoe shiners, and the marching band gather... everyone is here.
Meanwhile, it's time to attend Mass. It's impressive how Mass is celebrated in Ecuador. The fervor of these people is tremendous. They completely filled the church, and there were still people left outside...
Half of the world
If you have nothing to do one morning in Quito, you can go to the Tejar bus stop and for $0.40 and a 50-minute ride, you can literally stand in the middle of the world, on the equator. It seems that a few years ago, only the monument existed.
But some clever person thought it would be fun and profitable to build a kind of Disneyland around it.
So now they've built a park full of shops and restaurants around it. The only thing that's worth seeing, in my opinion, is the museum inside the monument, which has lots of games for children.
El Rucu Pichincha
If you enjoy hiking, I encourage you to take this trip from Quito to see views as impressive as these.
For around $7.50, you can take the cable car that drops you off at an altitude of 4,200 meters, and that's where the fun begins: a 3-hour hike to the summit of Rucu Pichincha at 4,600 meters.
It's funny to see us all panting like dogs for the first hour and a half, which is the hardest part in my opinion... then it gets less steep and you feel like you're flying and start saying silly things like, “I've acclimatized now, it wasn't that bad...” I guess the lack of oxygen affects the brain 😓
Well, there are other places to visit, such as Otavalo (about 100 km from Quito, or two and a half hours by bus), which I haven't heard good things about, although I haven't been there myself, so everyone can judge for themselves (“you won't see anything better than what you'll see in other places,” “the market is nothing special...”). There are also tours to Lake Quilotoa.
Well, those were my trips from Quito. I hope you found them useful! If you have more information or liked (or didn't like) this post, let me know in the comments!
And if you want to read more about Ecuador: https://999millas.net/category/paises/ecuador/
Texto y fotos : Mike !
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