Old Quito

We made it to breakfast and to our first group meeting. The group was to have been 14, but 5 canceled. There are two other couples, a father and son, and a single guy with us in the group. The other two couples have traveled a lot with OAT. The single guy has traveled in other contexts. The father and son, not so much.

Our first excursion was to the old city center of Quito. This is the colonial city, built in Spanish style. It is very well preserved, with a central square surrounded by the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace, and the not-so-colonial Municipal Administration building. Our city guide, Sylvia, gave good tour with lots of national history. We walked several blocks, seeing 17th and 18th century houses, churches, and other buildings, all still very much in use.



A highlight was a visit to Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. Built by the Jesuits beginning in 1605, but taking a century and a half to complete, it is a splendid example of Baroque architecture.


Immediately after visiting the church, we met a street walker. Our host was the “president” of an association of prostitutes. Sex workers by the thousands ply their trade in Quito, and the tourist areas of the Old Town — particularly the squares and plazas outside the churches — are where many congregate. This woman heads an association that has formed a co-op, acquired a building where sex workers can live and bring their clients without being exploited by the “by the hour” hotels. They also assist with health care, regular check-ups, and protection. On the ground floor, they have opened a restaurant where “retired” sex workers cook and serve, running a legal business, and feeding those for whom business has not been good enough to buy food. It was an interesting discussion of a complex topic.

We did not eat lunch in the sex worker’s restaurant. We walked a few blocks. It was up hill all the way. Not that terribly steep (we hiked up steeper hills in Decorah daily). But at 9300 feet above sea level, it seemed like we were climbing a mountain. We finally reached Calle de La Ronda, an historic Old Town street with houses dating back to the late 18th and early 19th century.

The house we visited is famous in Ecuador as the meeting place for the planners of the country’s first revolution for independence in 1805-06. Spain crushed that revolt, but the violent way in which they did so sparked a second, more successful revolt some years later. The house eventually became the family home to a man whose eldest daughter, Victoria, runs a restaurant in the house in which she grew up. She also was one of the leaders of a movement to revive La Ronda, drive out the prostitutes and dive bars, and bring back tourists.

In light of her anti-prostitution campaign, the restaurant has an interesting name: “La Negra Mala.” Translated literally, it means “the bad black woman.” But apparently there was a popular song, back in the 1950s but still well-known in South America today, that had more the sense of a dark woman who brought trouble to the men in her life. So the connotation is not what it might, at first, appear.

The meal was traditional local food, starting with empanadas, a wonderful pork main course, and dessert of sweetened tree tomatoes — along with free-flowing Chilean wine and local Quito beer. Victoria served us enthusiastically, despite the language barrier.

During the meal, Victoria’s son, a university student who had spent an exchange year in the U.S. and spoke English quite well, helped with the serving. He explained the food, gave us the family history and the history of the house, and talked about the neighborhood.

After the meal, as translated through our guides, we heard Victoria’s views on the sex trade. This was an opposite side of the coin from our visit to the co-op.

After returning to the hotel, we had a briefing on the next day’s departure for the Amazon basin in the eastern part of the country. Then we had the evening free — for some, to explore the city, but for us, to catch up on the sleep we missed the night before.