Before we moved to Ecuador, we read lots of blogs written by people who were already there. One blog I remember reading was that of a sister writing about travelling 10 hours to a Special Assembly Day. That was a bit of a reality check!
And now we have become those people who travel 10 hours, rather than those who are accustomed to travelling 1 hour in Australia for a Special Assembly Day.
Of course, the 10 hour trip is just one option. From Cuenca to Quito by public bus at night takes around 7 or 8 hours without stopping anywhere.
Below are some of the things you might see on a road trip to Quito:
There were a few of these fruit vendors along the side of the road
Interesting …
Carrot fest!
There were chickens and guinea pigs, among other things, in the crates in the back of this truck
Or if you choose to fly, it’s around 1 hour flight time, and then around 1 1/2 hours drive into Quito from the airport (it’s a new airport, less than 1 year old, and is out of the city in the middle of nowhere). Last year, we tagged along with another family who knew the ropes and spoke Spanish and we flew with them to Quito.
Land slips are quite a problem in parts of Ecuador where they have cut away the hills to build roads. Here you can see workers (on the left-middle of the photo wearing red and yellow) trying to stabilize the hill-sides
This year, we decided to go by hired bus just as we’ve done before to get down to Guayaquil for the District Conventions. Originally, it was going to be us and our Australian friends Julian and Dina and their 2 girls who only just moved here 2 or 3 weeks ago, then we asked a recently widowed sister in our congregation if she would like to join us, and it grew from there, until we had a full bus of 19 people, and we could have taken more if we’d gone up to a bigger bus.
Our first pit-stop. The silver Hyundai bus is ours. Brendan is on the far right of the photo
Among our group were a couple of our Ecuadorian sisters – one had never been to Quito, and the other had been there but only by plane. So it was nice that they were able to come too, and they did come in handy at times when we had language difficulties!
Some of our group
One advantage we figured we would have with our own bus was that it should make getting to our accommodation and to the assembly hall a lot easier and cheaper and safer than if we had to keep catching taxis to get around.
On the way home, somewhat worse for wear – we had to put some of our bags/suitcases in the aisle due to lack of other storage
Because of where in Quito the assembly hall is located (kind of in the middle of nowhere where taxis are very few and far between), last year we had a lot of difficulty getting back to our accommodation, and we hoped to avoid that this year.
As it was, we had the bus and driver at our disposal for the 3 days of travel. He picked us up from 2 locations in Cuenca (the first was our house - Brendan felt it was part of the perks of making the arrangements - so that was pretty handy for us and the other was an apartment building where 2 other families were living) and dropped us directly at our hostal in Quito. Of the 19 on the bus, 15 of us managed to book into the same hostal, so that was also very convenient.
We worked out that it was cheaper to have our own bus rather than going on the public bus and then having to catch taxis to get around. One of the reasons we chose the hostal we stayed at was that it is close to restaurants and places to get food and we could just walk the 2 or 3 blocks necessary to get food rather than having to catch taxis.
Unlike a lot of Ecuadorian bus drivers, our driver didn’t feel the need to drive like a crazy man and was cautious when overtaking and conveniently stopped every 2 or 3 hours so we could get out and stretch our legs and use the bathroom if needed. We stopped at a town called Salcedo for lunch. This town is known for its unique type of icecream (we mentioned this in a blog from last year – around October/November - when we did a sightseeing trip with our Aussie friends who were then in Ecuador for a visit) and there are no shortage of shops that sell them.
Check out the giant icecreams – they are various fruit flavours in layers, all in one icecream
Although it’s a long drive from Cuenca to Quito, one advantage of travelling in the daytime over flying or taking a night time bus is that you get to see the scenery and become somewhat familiar with the towns along the way. At this time of year, it was pretty and green most of the way, with rolling hills patch-worked with various crops, and cows and houses dotted here and there. This part of Ecuador has some of the prettiest scenery we’ve seen anywhere – it reminded us a lot of parts of Tasmania (specifically the north-west) and other parts of Australia. The fact that there are eucalypt trees everywhere helps give that impression.
This could easily be Tasmania – except perhaps for the little shrine to the front-left of the photo
Cabbages? Or maybe broccoli?
Quito has a rather different feel from Cuenca – one difference is that it has a population of somewhere around 3 million, whereas Cuenca has around 500,000, which includes some outlying areas. Parts of Quito have a modern feel as there are shopping malls and new high rise buildings which are in quite good condition and there are some trees and well-kept public green areas and gardens. There is an old section of Quito (probably somewhat similar to the old section of Cuenca) which I had hoped we would get to see this time, but alas due to a tight schedule, it was not to be.
Heading out of Quito back to Cuenca
Some parts of Quito I found to be somewhat depressing. Most of the buildings in Quito that we saw appear to be made with grey concrete blocks, which is fine if they are cement-rendered and painted. But there are large sections (they appeared to be low-income areas) where the houses are barely completed (or not finished at all), let alone made to look nice, and it is really ugly. The area at the back of the assembly hall is one of these areas. The assembly hall, with its gardens, would be the most attractive building in the area.
A fairly average part of Quito – not as pretty as some, not as ugly as some
The assembly hall seats a few thousand, and we had around 415 English-speakers in attendance. This was up a little from last year. At the assembly hall are also some small houses where the assembly caretaker and others live. The hall is on a hill and has quite a view over parts of Quito.
These chicas are in our congregation
One of the entrances into the Assembly Hall
At the back of the hall – there are those chicas again!
Down the side of the hall
View over some of Quito
From the bottom looking up – to the right is the local Kingdom Hall
Looking down over the hall from the back
The Hostal we stayed at was rather nice – it was originally built as a family home in the 1920’s, and they have tried to keep up the atmosphere with old-style furnishings etc.
Planning strategy, or just comparing toys?
The dining room – the kitchen staff were very efficient and helpful
Reception/waiting area – stairs at the rear lead down to other rooms. Upstairs was an office or private accommodation
One of the large family rooms
Looking down into the reception/waiting area
Guest room for sitting and chatting
A typical Ecuadorian hostal breakfast; fruit, fruit juice, yoghurt, bread rolls, jam/jelly, cheese. The coffee and eggs-to-your-liking were on their way.
Garden to the side of the hostal
Side of the hostal – our room was downstairs with the light on
Front of the hostal
It had a little garden around it which was rather nice, and early in the morning we saw a hummingbird getting its breakfast from some flowering plants.
We left Quito Monday morning to head home again. We stopped for lunch at a place called San Pedro de Alausi which is where the Devil’s Nose railway leaves from; I vaguely recall a documentary about the railway, but other than that, I have nothing to add.
Quite a tidy little town – this seemed to be the main street. It’s in a valley off the main road
The railway
While we were waiting for everyone to come back to the bus, a man aged around 60-ish who was walking past stopped to talk to us. He told us he was from Slovenia and spoke 10 languages and had been to 140 countries! The people you meet in far-away places!
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Now for a change of pace: I had bought this chicken at the market, where the lady conveniently removes its head for me – other people seem to be quite happy to buy them with their heads on, but not me!
Dina seemed to think that maybe the chicken might like to pose for a photo!
Resting, after doing The Funky Chicken Dance!!
