Quito is the capital of Ecuador, sitting on the Equator, situated high in the Andes Mountains at an elevation of 9,350 feet officially making it the highest capital in the world. Quito is basically spread throughout a valley climbing up both hillsides. Numerous houses line both the valley and opposing hillsides as you will see from the photo below from their apartment (you'll see more examples of these populated hillsides in future blogs).
Quito is the second largest city in Ecuador with a population of approximately 1.608 million people (Guyaquil--located further south and Ecuador's main port city--is the largest city with a population of 2.279 million). Because this country sits right on the Equator, there are only two seasons in Quito--summer (which is relatively short, maybe two months where the sun will be shining the majority of the time) and the rainy season which (I'm sure you've already figured it out) is rainy a lot of the time! We went during the rainy season but were blessed with a number of beautiful days, although we were initially greeted with a few rainy ones.
Walking out of the airport, we were greeted with a not so usual view of Cotopaxi, one of the many dormant volcanos in Volcano Alley which runs through the Eastern and Western Andes in Ecuador. You can see its snow-capped peak just to the right of the lighted parking sign. This will NOT be your last Cotopaxi sighting, by the way! It only gets better.
Their apartment in Quito has a great view of the city. I tried to take photos with all the night lights glistening on the hillside, but they just didn't come out, so all I have is this daytime photo. But you can still get a good idea of the great view from their large living room windows overlooking just a small portion of Quito.
With the rains prevailing we put off sight-seeing and instead Erica and I took a trip field trip to the local fruitas y verduras mercado (fruit and vegetable market). But it is so much more than that! This market features beautiful, colorful displays of so many different kinds of fruits and vegetables--some that are still a mystery to me!
Not sure what kind of fruit this is!
Nope, not sure what kind of fruit this is either!
Below are HUGE papaya! This is something we don't see in the states!
Not only do they have fruitas y verduras, they also have lots of carne vendors.
How about this WHOLE pig?
Maybe you want a side of beef?
Or maybe you're hankering for some pigs feet?
All in all, it was a fascinating place and the fruits and vegetables all looked excellent. Erica bought some and let me tell you, the fruits and vegetables in Ecuador are absolutely delectable. Most of them are not picked green so you are getting them fresh which taste fabulous.
On our way home we passed this flower market. Ecuador is also known for their roses and we went to Rosadex (a rose farm) for a tour and lunch. I'll cover that in another blog as rose growing is a much more complex process than you probably are thinking.
Genesis 1:11-13
Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
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