Weekend in the City

Last week I had made plans to take the cable car up to the top of Pichincha, the volcano next to Quito, but the rain and clouds made us postpone our trip. Instead, I went on a run with some friends in the Parque Metropolitano, a forest behind my house. The trees were very beautiful, but I hardly noticed them because I was so focused on trying to breathe. This was my third run here in Quito. On the first day of “track class” at my University, we ran a loop that the coach says is 2 miles. I was very exhausted by the end (granted, half of it was uphill), but I was surprised to see that the time on my watch was 19:36 when I got back to campus. I may have underestimated the effects of the altitude here.

My track class stretching before a run.

Every Sunday the city closes one of the main avenues, Amazonas, and only allows bikes and pedestrians. The event is called Ciclopaseo, and I decided to take part this past Sunday with a friend from my program. After much searching I found a bike rental place online. On Sunday morning, after waiting for the thunderstorm to pass, we walked down to the rental shop.

Bikers on Amazonas.

When we got there we found that it was closed, so we asked a nearby policeman if he knew where we could rent bikes. He told us to walk down Amazonas to the Parque la Carolina and we would find a place on the way. After walking for 30ish minutes we asked another policeman if he knew. He said the park was close, but he wasn’t sure about bike rental places. “I always see people ride past with rented bikes,” he said, “but I’m not sure where they get them!”

There are 63 statues of hummingbirds at the entrance of the Parque la Carolina! Pichincha is in the background under all those clouds.

At this point we accepted the fact that our bike ride had turned into a walk, so we strolled through the park and watched the games of Ecuavolley (a form of volleyball, but with a higher net and some other rule changes), basketball, and soccer being played by groups of families and friends. 

I remembered that there was a café in the area recommended by a friend who had studied here last semester. After asking several people and following very vague directions, we finally found Caffeto. 

Drinking coffee in a café that felt as though it were in the United States was a nice break. Over chocolate and apple muffins we chatted about how studying in Ecuador has made us appreciate and miss parts of a culture we didn’t even know we had.