After my tour in Perú, I spent 5 weeks with an Ecuadorian institution that helps young women and their children. I lived with them, did chores, painted portraits and built friendships. In my free time, I got out in the city and journaled about my experience.

Quito is nested in a high-altitude valley between awe-inspiring volcanoes, the nearest being Pichincha. The city stretches hours north and south and is home to 3 million people. While it’s on the equator, its 9,000ft altitude keeps it in the 50s-70s year-round, with a wet and dry season. Since it’s warmer in Quito than in Cusco, everything was green and palm trees threatened to take over. Buses, the Trolley, and taxis made getting anywhere in the city easy and relatively affordable. (If you opt for taxis, be sure to use radio taxis because the fare is reliable and they have seat belts. This is even more important in Lima traffic.)

I saw a side of Quito other visitors never see. Peru both helped and ruined me: I was so tired of plazas, colonial history and cathedrals by the time I got to Quito, I didn’t explore these “must-sees.” Instead, I explored the art scene, museums, parks, cafes and shopping malls, which I wouldn’t have otherwise. Quito has great museums and galleries like La Casa de la Cultura, La Capilla del Hombre, and La Casa del Alabado. My favorite parks were El Metropolitano and Parque Bicentenario. The colonial downtown is lovely, and I did, I confess, look at the big tourist sites from the outside. La Basilica, Quito’s main cathedral, is awe-inspiring. El Panecillo (“Little Bun”) is a large hill near the Colonial center topped by La Virgen de Quito, an angelic madonna statue who overlooks the city. Quito is most famous for La Mitad del Mundo monument, the line that divides the two hemispheres. I didn’t visit, but demonstrations of water draining in opposite directions on either side can be found here. 

In Quito, it helped to make friends with other volunteers; they showed me their favorite places and taught me how to recharge. It was fun to see how foreigners and natives alike enjoyed this city, because everyone’s experience is different. Ecuador showed me just how beautiful the world is—the hustle and bustle, the vendors walking between cars calling “¡mandarinas!” the artisans’ markets, the fruit shops, businessmen on the phone waiting for a bus, pedestrian bridges, families playing at the park, little lunch restaurants. The pace was faster than mid-Missouri for sure, but otherwise life felt the same. Stay tuned for more on Ecuador and Peru!