Friday, May 31st, 2013
As if our “tour” with Edisón wasn’t great enough, Mikki
lined up a bike tour with her professors in the language school she attended
before all of us arrived. They greeted us warmly and were so thrilled to see
Mikki, you’d think she’d been here for at least a semester studying. Again,
that’s what I love about being in “Latin America”. Our tour guides were just as
friendly and once we were all hooked up with gear, we were off.
At first I was a bit terrified to do Quito by bike because
in addition to having terrifying traffic, I hadn’t noticed a lot of bike lanes.
I respect bikers on the road, but who knew about impatient city drivers and
buses…But I was surprised to find that there were indeed bike lanes—sometimes
just for bikes and sometimes shared with the metro bus lane (which is just for
buses). While I wouldn’t say it was like biking in the Netherlands, it wasn’t
nearly the fright fest I feared. We passed through the historic district of
Quito yet again, meanwhile getting a few tidbits of information from our
guides. After hauling for about an hour, we passed through La Ronda again for another
jar of canelazo and the best nachos
and fried bread I’ve ever had. Not only is it huge, deep fried and covered in
sugar, but THERE’S CHEESE INSIDE!!! Ok, Ecuador, you’ve won me over. The ways
in which you consume cheese are magical. Thank god you also come stock with
every variety of fruits and vegetables, otherwise it could be a problem. Once
again, the canelazo got me feeling
happy, especially in the company of such friendly and funny quiteños. Being that it was raining, we
stayed for quite a while hoping we could beat the storm, but after an hour or
so, we headed back.
Passing by the cathedrals and other colonial architecture at
night gave the city a glorious, illuminated sparkle. As we whizzed through the
city’s many parks, and thinking back to Parque
Itchimbí, I took in deep breaths of fresh air, wondering if maybe Quito*
should have really been named Buenos Aires…
*Fun fact, though: Quito is an indigenous term meaning
“center of the world”. Eat your heart out, China.
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